Tomo-PIV Study of Baseline Flow Structures Behind a Strut Injector

Stabilizing combustion in scramjet engines is a formidable challenge due to the small time scales afforded for air-fuel mixing. Numerous studies in this area have demonstrated the potential of strut-style platforms for fuel injection and mixing enhancement, which remains an active area of research. In the Aerodynamics Research Laboratory at Missouri S&T, a strut-style injector system has recently been installed. In this study, we characterize the baseline flow structures behind this platform absent fuel injection. The wake generated by a strut itself has an appreciable impact on the resulting air-fuel mixing, which motivates its characterization. In future studies, this characterization will help delineate the structures generated by the strut and those resulting from fuel injection or trailing edge modifications. Tomographic Particle Image Velocimetry (Tomo-PIV) is utilized to capture the flow field downstream of the strut injector platform. By establishing a versatile strut platform and Tomo-PIV as an adjoining measurement technique, this work lays the foundation for future fundamental studies in supersonic mixing.