SCRAMJET
A scramjet engine is an improvement over the ramjet engine as it efficiently
operates at hypersonic speeds and allows supersonic combustion. Thus it is
known as Supersonic Combustion Ramjet, or Scramjet.
SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM
• As in ramjets, a scramjet relies on high vehicle speed to
forcefully compress and decelerate the incoming air before
combustion, but whereas a ramjet decelerates the air to
subsonic velocities before combustion, the airflow in a scramjet
is supersonic throughout the entire engine.
• This allows the scramjet to operate efficiently at extremely high
speeds: theoretical projections place the top speed of a scramjet
between Mach 12 and Mach 24.
• The scramjet is composed of three basic components and are,
• A converging inlet, where incoming air is compressed and
decelerated.
• A combustor, where gaseous fuel is burned with atmospheric
oxygen to produce heat.
• A diverging nozzle, where the heated air is accelerated to
produce thrust.
• Scramjets are designed to operate in the hypersonic flight
regime, beyond the reach of turbojet engines, and, along with
ramjets, fill the gap between the high efficiency of turbojets and
the high speed of rocket engines.
• The very first scramjet engine-powered vehicle took flight in
November of 1991 and was developed by Russia.
India had started the efforts on Scramjet technology long back and we
did a ground testing in 2006 which validated the design of the engine.
And now, India became the fourth country to claim the successful testing
of Scramjet Engine. Russia was the first country who claimed scramjet
flight test in 1991, and later US and European Space agency also joined
the elite group.
1. The efficiency of the launch vehicle depends on how much weight it can carry
for with a particular amount of fuel. Currently, Indian rockets carry a huge
quantity of oxygen (approx.200 tons) that is nearly 85 percent of the rocket mass
and it gets burnt during the atmospheric flight phase of the rocket. Use of
Scramjet would help to reduce the weight of launch vehicle and increase the
speed. It would help India to do more with a limited space budget.
2. Satellite launching business is gaining momentum and Antrix Corporation (the
Commercial wing of ISRO) has been launching satellites at a lower cost when
compared to other players. This can be further augmented by using Scramjet
Engine which would help to minimize the cost.
History
Alexander Kartveli and Antonio Ferri pioneered the scramjet technique during
the US aerospaceplane programme in the 1950s and 1960s.
❖ Several experimental scramjet engines were constructed and tested on the
ground in the US and the UK throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In November
1964, Antonio Ferri successfully demonstrated a scramjet that produced net
thrust, ultimately achieving 517 pounds-force (2.30 kN)
❖ An analytical research on supersonic combustion ramjets covered both their
advantages and downsides in 1958. Based on Billig's Doctoral thesis,
Frederick S. Billig and Gordon L. Dugger filed a patent application for a
supersonic combustion ramjet in 1964. In 1981, this patent was granted
when a confidentiality restriction was lifted.
First Successful flight…
In 1991, NASA and other partners worked
together to conduct the first scramjet flight
test . It was an axisymmetric dual-mode
hydrogen-fueled scramjet built by the Central
Institute of Aviation Motors (CIAM) in
Moscow in the late 1970s, but it was updated
with a FeCrAl alloy and mounted on a
modified SM-6 missile to achieve initial flight
parameters of Mach 6.8 before the scramjet
flew at Mach 5.5. The scramjet flight was
carried captively on an experimental flight
support system called the "Hypersonic Flying
Laboratory" (HFL), "Kholod," on the SA-5
surface-to-air missile.
❖ From 1992 to 1998, an additional six
flight tests of the axisymmetric
high-speed scramjet-demonstrator
were conducted by CIAM together
with France and then with NASA.
Maximum flight velocity greater than
Mach 6.4 was achieved and scramjet
operation during 77 seconds was
demonstrated. These flight test series
also provided insight into
autonomous hypersonic flight X-43A, undergoing ground testing.
controls.
HyShot project
The HyShot project demonstrated scramjet
combustion on 30 July 2002. The scramjet
engine worked effectively and
demonstrated supersonic combustion in
action. However, the engine was not
designed to provide thrust to propel a
craft. It was designed more or less as a
technology demonstrator.
Scramjet Model for the Hyshot Project Scramjet Model for the
Hyshot Project.
Hyper-X
❖ Hyper-X claimed the first flight of a thrust-producing scramjet-powered
vehicle with full aerodynamic maneuvering surfaces in 2004 with the
X-43A.The last of the three X-43A scramjet tests achieved Mach 9.6 for
a brief time
❖ The first plane in the series, the X-43A, was a single-use vehicle, of
which three were built. The first X-43A was destroyed after
malfunctioning in flight in 2001. Each of the other two flew successfully
in 2004, setting speed records, with the scramjets operating for
approximately 10 seconds followed by 10-minute glides and intentional
crashes into the ocean. Plans for more planes in the X-43 series have
been suspended or cancelled, and replaced by the USAF managed X-51
programme
The X-43A aircraft was a small unpiloted
test vehicle measuring just over 3.7 m in
length.The vehicle was a lifting body
design, where the body of the aircraft
provides a significant amount of lift for
flight, rather than relying on wings. The
aircraft weighed roughly 1,400 kg . The
X-43A was designed to be fully
controllable in high-speed flight, even
when gliding without propulsion.
However, the aircraft was not designed to
land and be recovered. Test vehicles
crashed into the Pacific Ocean when the
test was over.
Boeing X-51 Waverider
The Boeing X-51 Waverider is an
unmanned research scramjet
experimental aircraft for hypersonic
flight at Mach 5 (3,300 mph; 5,300
km/h) and an altitude of 70,000 feet
(21,000 m). The aircraft was designated
X-51 in 2005. It completed its first
powered hypersonic flight on 26 May
2010. After two unsuccessful test flights,
the X-51 completed a flight of over six
minutes and reached speeds of over
Mach 5 for 210 seconds on 1 May 2013
for the longest duration powered
hypersonic flight.
India & ScramJet
❖ On 28 August 2016, the Indian space agency ISRO
conducted a successful test of a scramjet engine on a
two-stage, solid-fueled rocket. Twin scramjet engines were
mounted on the back of the second stage of a two-stage,
solid-fueled sounding rocket called Advanced Technology
Vehicle (ATV), which is ISRO's advanced sounding rocket.
The twin scramjet engines were ignited during the second
stage of the rocket when the ATV achieved a speed of 7350
km/h (Mach 6) at an altitude of 20 km. The scramjet
engines were fired for a duration of about 5 seconds
❖ On 12 June 2019, India successfully conducted the maiden flight test of
its indigenously developed uncrewed scramjet demonstration aircraft for
hypersonic speed flight from a base from Abdul Kalam Island in the Bay
of Bengal at about 11:25 am. The aircraft is called the Hypersonic
Technology Demonstrator Vehicle. The trial was carried out by the
Defence Research and Development Organisation. The aircraft forms an
important component of the country's programme for development of a
hypersonic cruise missile system
