Numerical and Experimental Investigation of a Mach 7 Reactive Flowpath

High-fidelity simulation of a round supersonic reactive flowpath are presented. The geometry and conditions were designed to enable a combined research effort between ex perimentation and computation of a high-speed reacting flowfield representative of Mach 7 f light in order to study the fundamental physical phenomena occurring between the turbu lence and chemical reactions. An initial comparison between preliminary experimental runs and high-resolution simulation data is made. A qualitative investigation of the simulation data reveals several key features of the resulting flowfield including combustor pressure distribution, Mach number distribution, flame structure and heat release rates. Analysis of the flame index in the simulations shows that both premixed and diffusion flames occur at the current conditions. An enstrophy budget analysis indicates that both dilatation and baroclinic mechanisms are significant in this flow.