One-Dimensional Analysis of Thermal Choking in Case of Heat Addition in Ducts

The thermal choking phenomenon is of great importance in an inlet isolator in dual-mode ram jet/scramjet combustor. In some cases the choked flow creates a pseudo-shock wave including a shock train in it at the engine inlet and causes large amounts of drag and radically reduces the performance of the engine at high flight Mach numbers. The present paper describes a one-dimensional flow model taking account of the upstream boundary-layer as well as heat addition by using a mass-weighted av- eraging technique. The simple relationships for the flow field in a constant area duct in which the effect of the upstream boundary-layer is considered but the effect of the wall friction in the duct can be neglected are presented. The results of the calculation such as the maximum heat addition when the thermal choking occurs, the downstream Mach number and the static pressure ratio are presented and examined in detail.