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Beach, H. L., Jr.

Publications and source records attributed to Beach, H. L., Jr..

Prospects for future hypersonic air-breathing vehicles

An overview of the technical progress achieved in key areas of hypersonic airbreathing vehicle development is presented. The context for hypersonic applications is discussed with emphasis placed on technology issues and requirements, particularly for propulsion and technology integration. Attention is given to CFD technology which allows the consideration of configurations and extrapolations to flight conditions that cannot be simulated on the ground.

Beach, H. L., Jr.

Prospects for future hypersonic air-breathing vehicles

The age of hypersonics is (almost) here. This is evident from the amount of activity in the United States, Europe, the USSR and Japan; this activity is a reflection of technical progress in key areas which will enable new vehicle systems, as well as renewed interest in the utilization of these systems. The current situation, at least in the United States, is the product of an interesting history which is briefly reviewed here. The context for hypersonic applications is discussed, but the emphasis is on hypersonic technology issues and needs, particularly for propulsion and technology integration. The paper concludes with prospects for accomplishing the objective of air-breathing hypersonic vehicle systems.

Beach, H. L., Jr.

Aeronautical facility requirements into the 2,000's

This paper delineates and speculates upon aeronautical systems, trends, and requirements into the 2,000's and indicates ground facility capability enhancements which are needed to support these devlopments. New facility capabilities required include (1) higher Reynolds number at low speeds especially for the high-lift and vortex hazard problems, (2) low-disturbance, high-speed aerodynamic and hypersonic propulsion facilities for transition and mixing studies, (3) large-scale and relatively long test-time hypersonic propulsion tunnels to allow multidisciplinary integration, (4) a large-scale, high-speed acoustics facility for en route noise minimization, (5) a large-scale ballistic range for planetary entry studies, and (6) development of advanced (full simultaneous 3-space and time) nonintrusive instrumentation for CFD transition/turbulence modeling/code validation and interacting flow physics determination.

Beach, H. L., Jr.

Emerging hypersonic propulsion technology

Currently there is a renewal of interest in the utilization of air breathing engines for hypersonic flight. The use of such engines in accelerative missions is discussed, and the nature of the trade-off between engine thrust-to-weight ratio and specific impulse is highlighted. It is also pointed out that the use of a cryogenic fuel such as liquid hydrogen offers the opportunity to develop both precooled derivatives of turboaccelerator engines and new cryogenic engine cycles, where the heat exchange process plays a significant role in the engine concept. The continuing challenges of developing high speed supersonic combustion ramjet engines are discussed. The paper concludes with a brief review of the difficult discipline of vehicle integration, and the challenges of both ground and flight testing.

Curran, E. T.

Hypersonic propulsion

Research on hydrogen fueled scramjet engines for hypersonic flight is reviewed. Component developments, computational methods, and preliminary ground tests of subscale scramjet engine modules at Mach 4 and 7 are emphasized. Airframe integration, structures, and flow diagnostics are also discussed. It is shown that mixed-mode perpendicular and parallel fuel injection controls heat release over a wide Mach range and the fixed geometry inlet gives good performance over a wide range of Mach numbers.

Beach, H. L., Jr.

Application of a two-dimensional parabolic computer program to prediction of turbulent reacting flows

The capabilities of a computer program are explored, and computed results are compared with data. The comparisons are restricted to two-dimensional flows. Subsonic and supersonic flows, ducted and nonducted, reacting and nonreacting, are considered. An evaluation of models used for turbulence and chemical reaction was included. Constants in the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy, turbulence model, which produces mixing in good agreement with data, are the same for all calculations. Experimental data are reported for coaxial injection at matched pressure (1 atm or 101.3 kPa) of a cold, Mach 2, hydrogen jet into a hot, Mach 2, vitiated airstream. Profiles of pitot pressure and gas composition obtained from water cooled probes are reported and compared with theoretical results.

Evans, J. S.

Hydrogen-fueled scramjets: Potential for detailed combustor analysis

Combustion research related to hypersonic scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) propulsion is discussed from the analytical point of view. Because the fuel is gaseous hydrogen, mixing is single phase and the chemical kinetics are well known; therefore, the potential for analysis is good relative to hydro-carbon fueled engines. Recent progress in applying two and three dimensional analytical techniques to mixing and reacting flows indicates cause for optimism, and identifies several areas for continuing effort.

Beach, H. L., Jr.

A study of reacting free and ducted hydrogen/air jets

The mixing and reaction of a supersonic jet of hydrogen in coaxial free and ducted high temperature test gases were investigated. The importance of chemical kinetics on computed results, and the utilization of free-jet theoretical approaches to compute enclosed flow fields were studied. Measured pitot pressure profiles were correlated by use of a parabolic mixing analysis employing an eddy viscosity model. All computations, including free, ducted, reacting, and nonreacting cases, use the same value of the empirical constant in the viscosity model. Equilibrium and finite rate chemistry models were utilized. The finite rate assumption allowed prediction of observed ignition delay, but the equilibrium model gave the best correlations downstream from the ignition location. Ducted calculations were made with finite rate chemistry; correlations were, in general, as good as the free-jet results until problems with the boundary conditions were encountered.

Beach, H. L., Jr.

Subscale, hydrogen-burning, airframe-integrated-scramjet: Experimental and theoretical evaluation of a water cooled strut airframe-integrated-scramjet: Experimental leading edge

A water-cooled leading-edge design for an engine/airframe integrated scramjet model strut leading edge was evaluated. The cooling design employs a copper cooling tube brazed just downstream of the leading edge of a wedge-shaped strut which is constructed of oxygen-free copper. The survival of the strut leading edge during a series of tests at stagnation point heating rates confirms the practicality of the cooling design. A finite difference thermal model of the strut was also proven valid by the reasonable agreement of calculated and measured values of surface temperature and cooling-water heat transfer.

Pinckney, S. Z.

Evaluation of a wedge gas-sampling probe

The performances of a wedge-type gas-sampling probe and pitot probes are compared in applications to flowfield profile studies. The flow structure data obtained by these techniques are found to agree well in flow regions with and without significant gradients. The wedge-type probe showed a good service life and allowed a substantial reduction of the sampling time. The wedge probe design is discussed.

Beach, H. L., Jr.