Title: Graphical exergy analysis for a scramjet thermodynamic performance evaluation

Authors: Duo Zhang; Kunlin Cheng; Silong Zhang; Jiang Qin; Wen Bao

Addresses: School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China ' School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China ' School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China ' School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China ' School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China

Abstract: Graphical exergy analysis was applied to a scramjet at cruise conditions. A zero-dimensional scramjet model was developed to describe the thermodynamic process of a hypersonic propulsion system. Energy utilisation diagrams (EUDs) were drawn to present the relationship between energy and energy level at cruise conditions. Performance optimisation based on the exergy efficiency was completed ranging from Ma 5.35 to Ma 6.23. The results indicate that the exhausting process produces the most exergy destruction, then the combustion process, and the exergy loss in the expansion process is the smallest. There is a maximal exergy efficiency with the variation of fuel equivalence ratio for a certain entrance condition, and the maximum increases with the cruise Mach number and the altitude. The advantages of graphical exergy analysis, such as visual representation of the relationships among different components and the convenience of analysis, were also shown by the example in this paper.

Keywords: exergy analysis; scramjet modelling; supersonic combusting ramjet; exergy efficiency; thermodynamics; energy utilisation diagrams; EUDs; cruise conditions; hypersonic propulsion; performance evaluation; exergy destruction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2016.078923

International Journal of Exergy, 2016 Vol.21 No.2, pp.136 - 156

Received: 13 Oct 2015
Accepted: 20 Feb 2016
Published online: 05 Sep 2016 *

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