Experimental and numerical study of transcritical oxygen-hydrogen rocket flame response to transverse acoustic excitation

Abstract

The response of a transcritical oxygen-hydrogen flame to transverse acoustic velocity was investigated using a combination of experimental analyses and numerical modelling. The experiment was conducted on a rectangular rocket combustor with shear coaxial injectors and continuously forced transverse acoustic field. Simultaneous high-speed shadowgraph and filtered OH* radiation images were collected and reduced using dynamic mode decomposition in order to characterise the flame response to the acoustic disturbance. CFD modelling of a representative single injector under forcing conditions was carried out to gain insights into the three-dimensional features of the reacting flow field. Invisible in the 2D projection, the model reveals that the excited LOX jet develops into a flattened and widened structure normal to the imposed acoustic velocity. The comparison of co-located structures allowed features in the imaging to be attributed to the deformation and transverse displacement of lower density oxygen surrounding the denser liquid oxygen core by the transverse acoustic velocity.