Performance study of a water ramjet engine

A performance study of a water ramjet engine is described.The engine is powered by the reaction of a magnesium-based propellant and ingested water.In this study,a solid propellant,which consisted of a large percentage of magnesium,a binder and a small amount of oxidant,was used as a hydro reactive fuel.Cold water was injected into the combustion chamber as a main oxidant.A scaled-down experimental engine was tested in a direct-connect ground testing system to characterize the factors influencing the engine performance.The results show that the increasing of total water/fuel ratio,an addition of secondary water intake along the combustion chamber,a larger magnesium content in the solid propellant,a smaller primary water injection angle towards the coming main flow,and a higher primary injection pressure were all able to promote the engine performance.The maximum engine performance was obtained in test 08,and with all tests,an appropriate set of parameters and conditions for the optimum engine performance were determined