Hypersonic Propulsion Concepts: Design, Control, Operation, and Testing Online

• Theoretical Background
  • Theoretical Background
  • What is Airbreathing Propulsion?
  • Brayton Cycle
  • Material temperature limitations
  • Introduction to high-speed thermos-fluid dynamics
  • What is next?
• High Speed Propulsion System Components
  • Fundamentals
    • Total Enthalpy and Total Temperature
    • Total Pressure
    • Ideal Exit Flow Velocity and Mass Flow
    • Constant Area Heating and Thermal Chocking
    • Shock Waves: Oblique Shocks, Normal Shocks, and Expansion Flow Relations
  • Inlet Analysis and design
    • Inlet Function and Operating Modes
    • Inlet Types
    • Inlet Aerodynamics
    • 2-D Inlets
    • 3-D Inlets
    • Inlet Capture, Shock Ingestion, and Spillage
    • Combustor Flowfield (Fuel Injection and Mixing) coupling
  • Isolators
    • Shock Train
    • Isolator Length
  • Nozzle Aerodynamics Configurations
    • On and Off-Design
    • Flow Separation
• High-Speed Propulsion Cycles
  • Turbine cycles
  • Rocket Cycle
  • Rocketized cycle
  • Scarmjet cycle
  • ATREX cycle
  • ATRDC cycle
  • KLIN cycle
  • AspiRE cycle
• Combustion, fuel selection and fuel systems
  • High Speed Air-breathing Engine Persistence Issues
  • Fuels, properties and selection
    • Driving requirements
  • Fuel systems
    • Fuel storage
    • Fuel pressurization
    • Fuel delivery
  • Combustion Physics: Chemical Mechanism, Finite-rate
    • High speed deflagration and detonation combustion
  • Combustor designs and fuel injection strategies
• Aerodynamics and boundary layers, compressible effects
  • Compressibility effects at high Mach numbers
  • Boundary-layer fundamentals and receptivity
  • Flow instabilities and Mach modes
  • Known hypersonic boundary-layer transition mechanisms – related to scramjets
  • Linear stability theory methods (Local, PSE, BiGlobal, TriGlobal, PSE-3D)
  • Some DNS results
  • Examples from open literature
• Airframe-Propulsion integration design
  • Introduction to Engine Airframe integration
  • Opportunities and challenges of hypersonic flight
  • Propulsion requirements and options
  • Forebody, inlet and nozzle design and performance considerations
  • Hypersonic vehicle design and propulsion integration considerations
  • Vehicle performance and sizing
  • System design exploration and multidisciplinary design optimization
• Airframe Structures and Thermal Management
  • Hish-Speed Propulsion, Materials and Structures
    • High Speed Engine Environment
    • Hot structure vs Cold
    • Thermal Protection Strategies
    • Material Considerations and selection
    • Trends
    • Super Alloys
    • Refractory Metals
    • Ceramic Matrix composites
• Ground testing and flight-testing techniques
  • Purposes of HSABP Ground Testing and Flight Testing
  • Challenges of HSABP Ground Testing
  • Strategies of HSABP Ground Testing
  • Short Term Testing Methods and Facilities (Shock tunnels, Ludwieg tubes, ballistic ranges…)
  • Long Term Testing Methods and Facilities (Wind tunnels, blow down facilities, air vitiators, rocket sled ranges, …)
  • Brief HSABP / Hypersonics Ground Testing Historical Perspective (X-15, Germany,
  • HSABP Flight Testing
• CFD Simulation
  • Broad role of CFD on hypersonic propulsion system design and analysis
  • Fundamental physics associated with each component of a scramjet engine
  • Introduction to Reynolds-Averaged Simulation (RAS) approaches
  • Current state-of-the-art numerical models
  • Scale-resolving simulations (large eddy simulation and direct numerical simulation) and their potential.
  • Benefits and their shortcomings

Instructors (from the AIAA High Speed Air-Breathing Propulsion Technical Committee and Academia, in no particular order):

Dr. Kevin Bowcutt, Boeing Research & Technology. Dr. Kevin G. Bowcutt is a Principal Senior Technical Fellow & Chief Scientist of Hypersonics for Boeing with 38 years of experience. He is an AIAA Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He holds BS, MS and PhD degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland. Dr. Bowcutt is an internationally recognized expert in hypersonic aerodynamics, propulsion integration, and vehicle design and optimization. Notable accomplishments include developing the viscous-optimized hypersonic waverider; flight testing scramjets by shooting them from a light gas gun; originating and optimizing the design of the X-51A scramjet-powered demo vehicle; helping the Space Shuttle Columbia accident investigation by simulating wing aero-thermal-structural failure; and leading Boeing’s contributions to the HIFiRE international hypersonic flight experiment program. In the spring semester of 2007 Dr. Bowcutt was a visiting professor at Princeton University’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department where he taught a course in hypersonic airplane design. Dr. Bowcutt leads Boeing’s advanced design efforts for hypersonic missiles, airplanes and space-planes, and is the technical lead for Boeing’s hypersonic passenger airplane program. 

Dr. Joel Malo de Molina, Senior Principal Systems Engineer, Energetics & Propulsion; Raytheon Missile Systems, Energetics and Propulsion Department. Technical aero-propulsion IPT lead on high-speed air-breathing systems, SRM and long-range high-speed development programs. Aerodynamics and propulsion integration, performance planning, design, manufacturing, development and analysis, modeling, simulations, testing and program execution of hypersonic propulsion and advanced air-vehicle tactical weapons. High speed air-breathing propulsion expert, hypersonic vehicle integration, inward- turning inlet design, and system performance. Liquid engines and solid rocket motors, SFGG physics, DMRJ, scramjet integration, fuel system design and RDE SME; responsible for cost and EV management, vendor selection and technical supervision, schedule, and technical performance to develop high speed weapons. Planning and execution of strategic IRAD and program funds; design, develop and analyze air-vehicle tactical weapons. High speed air-breathing propulsion system test, analysis and execution (wind tunnel model development, installation and analysis, test and facility readiness review/support, engine direct connects, and Free-Jets). 

Dr. Jason Etele has been teaching and researching aerospace propulsion at Carleton University (Canada) for over a decade and a half and is the author of the book “Fundamentals of Transatmospheric and Space Propulsion”. He has been an invited lecturer for several AIAA Short Courses on High Speed Airbreathing Propulsion, an invited instructor on Space Systems and Propulsion at Tohoku University (Japan), and a visiting professor at Clarkson University. He has also been an invited researcher at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) where he investigated airbreathing rocket concepts. 

Mr. Tom Smith, Associate Technical Fellow at Boeing, is a conceptual aircraft designer specializing in hypersonic air-breathing aircraft and spaceplanes. He designed the X-40, X-37A and X-37B spaceplanes. He has innovated concepts in the area of inward turning inlets for scramjet propulsion. He has broad skills in aerodynamics, structural design, propulsion integration, and multi-disciplinary optimization.

Dr. Ragini Acharya, Associate Professor, University of Tennessee Space Institute. 23 years of research and professional combined experience, including 15 years of post-PhD research experience in high-speed propulsion encompassing fundamental research as well as applications. Technical Expertise - Model development: Hypersonics, Uncertainty quantification, Hi-speed flows, Multi-physics, multi-phase, reacting and non-reacting flows, Surface Regression, Combustion-flame interaction; Hi-Fidelity reacting CFD: Large eddy simulation, unsteady RANS, Direct Numerical Simulation; Numerical Methods: High resolution shock-capturing methods, Wall Resolved Large Eddy Simulation (LES), Spectral Element; Applications: Hypersonic Flows, High-speed Aerothermochemistry, Reacting Boundary Layer Flows, Boundary Layer Transition, Alternative Fuels and Emissions 

Dr. Robert Baurle is the AFRL Senior Scientist for Hypersonics with 34 years of experience in the field of hypersonics. In this role, Dr. Baurle leads the Air Force hypersonics science and technology strategy, facilitates Air Force hypersonics interests with those of other government agencies developing hypersonic technologies, and advises Air Force senior leadership on hypersonic systems development. He started his professional career with Taitech, Inc. at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where he led a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) group tasked with the numerical analysis of hypersonic propulsion systems. He spent the next 21 years as a research scientist at the Hypersonic Airbreathing Propulsion Branch of the NASA Langley Research Center. In this position, Dr. Baurle was responsible for coordinating CFD tool development for the branch, providing subject matter expertise to national (NASA and DoD) air-breathing hypersonic propulsion system development programs, and providing technical oversight to in-house research activities and external research awards related to scramjet propulsion systems. Dr. Baurle has authored 100+ technical papers on subjects related to hypersonic technology development.

Dr. Khaled Sallam, Associate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Oklahoma State University, Tulsa. Co-Author of the recently published book, "An Introduction to Combustion with Applications Using Cantera" 

Dr. Zekai Hong is a Senior Research Officer with National Research Council Canada’s the Aerospace Research Centre, focusing on combustion, fuels, and propulsion systems.  He has been teaching courses in laser diagnostics and gas turbines for more than 5 years as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Ottawa.

Dr. Friedolin Strauss, Engineer and Researcher at German Aerospace Center DLR.