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Ramjet Engine: Diffuser Nozzle Combustion Chamber (Burner)

This document provides an overview of ramjet engine operation and performance analysis using enthalpy-entropy diagrams. Key points: - A ramjet compresses air through a diffuser and adds fuel for combustion in a chamber, then expands the combustion products through a nozzle for thrust. It requires supersonic flight speeds for practical operation. - An ideal ramjet analysis uses reversible, adiabatic processes and constant pressure combustion in an enthalpy-entropy diagram. This allows visualization of changes in kinetic, potential, and thermal energy. - Increasing flight speed increases kinetic energy available for conversion to thrust, while increasing fuel combustion increases temperature but is limited by material properties. Optimal specific thrust occurs at

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Natesan Mahendran
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33 views

Ramjet Engine: Diffuser Nozzle Combustion Chamber (Burner)

This document provides an overview of ramjet engine operation and performance analysis using enthalpy-entropy diagrams. Key points: - A ramjet compresses air through a diffuser and adds fuel for combustion in a chamber, then expands the combustion products through a nozzle for thrust. It requires supersonic flight speeds for practical operation. - An ideal ramjet analysis uses reversible, adiabatic processes and constant pressure combustion in an enthalpy-entropy diagram. This allows visualization of changes in kinetic, potential, and thermal energy. - Increasing flight speed increases kinetic energy available for conversion to thrust, while increasing fuel combustion increases temperature but is limited by material properties. Optimal specific thrust occurs at

Uploaded by

Natesan Mahendran
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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AA209, Propulsion, Spring 2003, Lecturer Prof. Sergei I. Chernyshenko.

Website: http://www.afm.ses.soton.ac.uk/sergei/AA209/AA209.html
Report misprints to [email protected] or in person (I am in room 5069 Tizard)

Handout 4.
Page:

Ramjet engine
To ram means to force in. In ramjet air is forced into the engine air intake by the sheer drive of the
speed of flight. Ramjet, in principle, can work at subsonic speed but it can be practical only at supersonic
speed.

Diffuser

Combustion
chamber
(burner)

Nozzle

Fuel injection

Exhaust jet

Figure 1: The ramjet.


In a ramjet, air undergoes compression in the diffuser, then fuel is added and burnt in the burner, and
then the combustion products expand through the nozzle. It is helpful to consider first a simplified model
of an ideal ramjet. For ideal ramjet it is assumed that compression and expansion processes are reversible
and adiabatic, that combustion occurs at constant pressure, that the air/combustion products properties
(specific heat ratio and the gas constant R) are constant throughout the engine, and, although this is not
necessary, that the outlet pressure is equal to the ambient pressure, in other words, that the nozzle is in
the design regime. The usual tool for analysis of the processes in engines is the so-called enthalpy-entropy
diagram.
The thermodynamic state of air is determined by two independent parameters. If a point in hs diagram
is given then all other parameters, like pressure, temperature, density, internal energy etc can be calculated.
When a unit mass of air moves through the engine the properties are changing and the point that indicates
the state is moving accordingly. The use of the enthalpy h and entropy s is especially convenient for the
following reasons. In adiabatic reversible process s remains constant, and, therefore, the path of such a
process is a vertical line in h s diagram. Since irreversibility usually lead to deterioration of performance,
engines are designed so as to be as close to reversible processes as possible. If the process is irreversible
then entropy at the end of it is greater than entropy at the end of the corresponding reversible process.
Therefore, in h s diagram it is easy to anticipate the effect of irreversibility on the shape of the diagram.
The advantage of using enthalpy as the other parameter follows from the form of the energy conservation
law for open steady-state system:

W
Q
Q
u2
u2
=
h0out + h0in =
(hout + out ) + (hin + in )
m

2
2

Q
where W
m
and m
are respectively the work done by and the heat added to a unit mass of air passing from
station in to station out. Therefore, changes in h can readily be interpreted as work done, heat added,
or kinetic energy variation. For a perfect gas h = cp T , therefore, one can consider h axis as approximate
temperature axis. Therefore, a restriction of the maximum temperature in the engine can be interpreted as
a restriction on maximum h.
In a diffuser no heat is added to air and no work is done, but the velocity decreases. Therefore, h
increases, as shown in Fig. 2 by a straight line a-d, with hd ha equal to the kinetic energy of a unit mass
in the incoming flow. Then, heat is added in the combustion process d-b. Heat addition leads to an increase
in s in accordance with the formula dQ = T ds for reversible processes. Therefore, d-b goes in the direction
of increasing s along the curve p = const. Along this curve hb hd represents the amount of heat added
per unit mass of air. In the nozzle no heat is added and no work is done, therefore, the total enthalpy is
constant, but kinetic energy increases and h decreases, with hb he giving the kinetic energy of a unit mass
in the exhaust jet.

h
b
kinetic energy
added

heat added

kinetic energy
of incoming
air returned

kinetic energy
of incoming
air

ons
p b=c
=
p
p= d

e heat released
by the jet when
it cools to the
ambient temperature

=const
p=pa=p e
a

Figure 2: Enthalpy-entropy diagram for an ideal ramjet


For a perfect gas in hs diagram the p = const curves have the form h = Const exp(s/c p ), and, therefore,
the distance b-e is greater than d-a. This is a very important feature. It is also true for real gases even
though the curves may be not exactly exponential. Therefore, the exhaust velocity is greater than the flight
velocity, and thrust is created.
Naturally, exhaust gases do not go back into the air intake. However, they do cool down to the ambient
temperature. This process occurs at constant pressure p = pa and is shown as curve e-a in the figure. The
enthalpy difference he ha is the amount of heat per unit mass released by the jet when it cools down. We
can see that only part of the heat added in the combustion process turns into the useful kinetic energy.
It is possible now to analyse the effects of various parameters on the engine performance.
Decreasing the flight speed, that is decreasing the Mach number, decreases the kinetic energy h d ha
(see Fig. 2). Imagine that it became very small. Then d-b will almost coincide with a-e. As a result, the
added kinetic energy will become very small. At the same time the heat released by the jet will be almost
equal to the heat added in the burner and will remain finite. That is burning a finite amount of fuel will
produce almost no thrust, that is the thrust specific fuel consumption, TSFC, will become quite high. Also,
since the added kinetic energy is small, specific thrust, that is thrust-to-air-mass-flow rate ratio will also be
small. Then, for producing finite thrust the air mass flow rate has to be large, and, accordingly, the engine
size has to be quite large. This is why ramjet is not practical at small Mach numbers.
If, for a fixed Mach number, that is fixed hd ha , the added heat hb hd is increased the kinetic energy
added will also be increased (see again Fig. 2). Therefore, the specific thrust will be increased thus allowing
smaller engine for the same thrust. The thermal efficiency will not be affected strongly as one can also see
from the figure. However, an increase in hb means increase in the maximum temperature, and this is limited
by the material properties of the engine walls.
Suppose that the maximum temperature, and, hence, hb is fixed. Consider the variation of the specific
thrust and TSFC with the Mach number M . At small M , point d is close to point a, and, as discussed,
TSFC is high and specific thrust is small. An increase in M reduces TSFC. As for the specific thrust, one
has to take into account that with hb fixed increase in hd results in a decrease in the amount of heat added.
For small M this effect is, clearly (see the figure again) is less important and specific thrust increases with
M . However, when hd approaches hb , the kinetic energy added, being only a fraction of the added heat,
tends to zero. Accordingly, the specific thrust also tends to zero. Therefore, specific thrust has a maximum
at some value of M between zero and that value of M at which isentropic compression in the diffuser leads
to temperature attaining the maximum allowed value.
It is possible to calculate all characteristics of an ideal ramjet. However, the use of h s diagram makes
it possible to achieve an intuitive understanding of the engine performance, as this was illustrated above.
One can now, for example, anticipate the rationale of the turbojet. Try it.

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