Experimental and Analytical Study of the Cold Flow Inside a Ramjet Test Engine

Abstract

The work is focused on the performance estimation and control of a cold flow inside a ramjet test engine, which initially operates without combustion, preparing the flow for the main propulsive phase. To achieve this objective, a “connected pipe” test bench was assembled. Flow management was performed using the control valve that allows regulating pressure and air mass flow rate in the engine according to its flight conditions through sensors installed at relevant positions. The proportional, integral and derivative (PID) parameters for the flow control algorithm were studied in order to guarantee the stable operation of the engine and correspondence of the flow parameters to predicted ones by the analytical modeling. Experimental results were validated by the numerical and analytical compressible flow models.

Keywords

• ramjet engines
• test facilities
• optimal control
• cold flow tests
• compressible flow