Humanity has the technology to fly to Mars on a blast
Researchers from the University of southern California (USA) received experimental confirmation of the theory about the ability to control air / fuel flow with shock waves. It is necessary to address key problems in the creation of a hypersonic ramjet engine (scramjet, or “scramjet” in English terminology – approx. ed Techcult). Until a solution is found, the machine will fly at speeds of 6-9 Max, at rated capacities above 20 Max.
In a scramjet is not a traditional compartment with the oxidant, its functions are performed by the air, which due to the huge speed of the machine is fed into the combustion chamber very quickly and in a compressed state. Combustion of the mixture of fuel and air occurs at supersonic speeds, the entire system is designed only for continuous operation, while a flying unit can’t move slower than certain threshold. In such a situation there is a difficult engineering challenge: how to inject a fuel to cause a uniform mixing of air with the subsequent instant detonation?
Scramjet compressed incoming air
California scientists have focused on the management of airflow in scramjets, starting from the fact that inside the intake it is impossible to place any mechanisms. First, they will not sustain loads, and secondly, it complicates the design and increases the risks. The scramjet and turbojet engines better that he does not have the rotating turbine and other vulnerable nodes. Therefore, as a tool to influence the air flow of American engineers proposed to apply a shock wave.
Laboratory experiments showed that the shock wave can effectively break up the air flow to tear him to pieces and simultaneously to slow them down. This allows you to configure an ideal circuit fuel injector and to the fuel / air mixture with optimal parameters, maximizing the efficiency of the engine. Now you need to design a new combustion chamber for the effective application of this technology.