Numerical Investigation of the Thermal Behavior of Cracked RP-3 in Rectangular Cooling Channels under Different Inclinations

Abstract

The pyrolysis effect of aviation kerosene is common in the regenerative cooling process of hypersonic aircraft scramjets. To find out the effect of inclination variation on the characteristics of aviation kerosene RP-3 considering thermal cracking in a regenerative cooling rectangular channel, a detailed chemical mechanism of RP-3 pyrolysis is introduced to construct a numerical model. The results indicate that the pyrolytic reaction begins at the junction of the heating wall and the side walls, and the main products of pyrolysis are light olefins and alkanes. The thermal cracking reaction slows down the velocity of the main flow on account of the increased density and increased viscosity resulting from the decrease in RP-3 temperature. With the decrease in inclination, thermal cracking is enhanced and the average heat transfer coefficient is decreased, which leads to an increase in wall temperature.