Scaling of the flow field in a combustion chamber with a gas–gas injector

The scaling of the flow field in a gas–gas combustion chamber is investigated theoretically, numerically and experimentally. To obtain the scaling criterion of the gas–gas combustion flowfield, formulation analysis of the three-dimensional (3D) Navier–Stokes equations for a gaseous multi-component mixing reaction flow is conducted and dimensional analysis on the gas–gas combustion phenomena is also carried out. The criterion implies that the size and the pressure of the gas–gas combustion chamber can be changed. Based on the criterion, multi-element injector chambers with different geometric sizes and at different chamber pressures ranging from 3 MPa to 20 MPa are numerically simulated. A multi-element injector chamber is designed and hot-fire tested at five chamber pressures from 1.64 MPa to 3.68 MPa. Wall temperature measurements are used to understand the similarity of combustion flowfields in the tests. The results have verified the similarities between combustion flowfields under different chamber pressures and geometries, with the criterion applied. (geophysics, astronomy and astrophysics)