Evaluation of full engine scramjet technology

Abstract

The first phase of the HyShot supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) flight experiment program of The University of Queensland in Australia was designed to provide benchmark data on supersonic combustion for a flight Mach number of approximately M=8. The second flight of the HyShot program, performed on July 30th 2002, was successful and supersonic combustion was observed along the specified trajectory range. The operating range of the High Enthalpy Shock Tunnel Göttingen (HEG) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) was recently extended. The facility now has the capability of testing a complete scramjet engine with internal combustion and external aerodynamics at M=7.8 flight conditions in altitudes of about 30km. A postflight analysis of the HyShot flight experiment was performed under an ESA-ESTEC TRP contract using an operational scramjet wind tunnel model with a geometry which is identical to that of the flight configuration.