ME295/346 Advanced Gas Dynamics

Midterm Exam - SOLUTION

Spring 2005 - D.L. Hitt
Due Date and Time: 5:00 PM, Thursday, March 17
Instructions: The format for this exam is open-note and open-book. No collaboration or consultation is
acceptable nor will it be tolerated; any violation of this constitutes academic dishonesty and will be
handled according to University policy. This policy is not limited to fellow classmates in ME295/346:
it extends to all people external to the class including faculty and other graduate students. Please note
the due date and time will be strictly enforced: I reserve the right to reject any exam submitted late.
1. (20 pts.) Flow Choking in a Ramjet Combustor. Among the rst of the supersonic air-breathing
jet engines developed was the ramjet design by William Avery. Ramjets reduce engine complexity
by eliminating most of the moving parts (see Figure 1). The speed of an aircraft itself is su cient to
compress air at the ramjets inlet, eliminating the need for compressors. In short, a supersonic ow
enters at the front of the engine where it goes through a normal shock1 (diuser) to decelerate the
ow to subsonic conditions and raise the air pressure. The air ow then passes through a subsonic
combustor or burnerin which fuel is sprayed into the airstream and ignited. The ow accelerates and
exits through the rear nozzle providing the thrust. Consider a specic ramjet engine operates at an

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of a ramjet engine.

1 In reality, the diuser consists of a series of oblique shocks followed by a normal shock. The oblique shocks serve to
decelerate and align the inlet ow and the normal shock decelerates the ow to a subsonic one. In this simplied problem we
ignore the oblique shocks.

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Midterm Exam - Solution

Figure 2: Schematic diagram for an idealized 1D ramjet showing the prinicple components. Fuel is injected
and ignited at the inlet to the burner. As the fuel burns the temperature of the ow rises due to the heat
released.
altitude where the pressure is 1 kPa and the temperature is 250 K. The ight Mach number is 2.5. An
idealized ramjet model is depicted in Figure 2.
(a) Suppose the normal shock in the diuser produces a subsonic ow with a Mach number of 0.3
at the inlet to the burner duct. Determine the corresponding pressure and temperature at the
burner inlet.
Solution. Using the normal shock relations, we have
p2
2
M12
=1+
p1
+1

T2
2
M12
= 1+
T1
+1

2+(
1) M12
( + 1) M12

Substituting M1 = 2:5 we have

p2
= 7:125
p1

T2
= 2:137
T1

and therefore, based upon the inlet conditions,

p2 = 7:125 kP a

T2 = 534:4 K J

Also, from the normal shock relations (or tables) we nd

M2 = 0:513
(b) Find the highest temperature that can be reached in the burner due to the combustion without
exceeding the choking limit(i.e., the ow goes sonic and is therefore choked). In answering this,
you may neglect the eects/details of the fuel mass added to the air.
Solution. For the 1-D Rayleigh ow problem with heat addition, the relation governing the
beginning and ending static temperatures in terms of the Mach numbers is
T3
=
T2

1 + M22
1 + M32

M3
M2

The ow becomes choked here were the exit Mach number becomes sonic M3 = 1. This
relation then becomes
2
2
1 + M22
1
Tmax = T2
1+
M2
Substituting our values for T2 and M2 we nd
Tmax = 1 3 0 7 K J
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Midterm Exam - Solution

2. (30 pts.) Analysis of a Shock Tube. Consider the specic case of a 1-D shock tube of innite
length (Figure 3). A membrane located at x = 0 separates two regions of air; the region to the left is
at atmospheric pressure (105 Pa) and the region at the right is pressurized to 106 Pa. The tube is at a
uniform temperature of 300 K. At t = 0 the membrane is ruptured.()

Figure 3: (top) Schematic of the intial gas distribution. (bottom) Schematic depicting the shock and
expansion propagation post-membrane-rupture.

(a) What is pressure behind the moving shock? (Hint: consider the continuity of the velocity eld in
the region between the bak-side of th eshock front and the trailing edge of the expansion wave).
Solution. The fundamental problem here is that we only have knowledge of the values p1 and
p4 but neither the shock speed or the induced velocity up . However, we can connect the
propagating shock and expansion waves through the fact that the velocity behind the shock
and the velocity at the trailing edge of the expansion wave must be the same. According to
the isentropic relations, at the trailing edge of the expansion wave we have
p3
= 1
p4
from which

2 =

u3
a4

"
2a4
u3 =
1
1

p3
p4

1)=2

Now for the shock wave, we have that the induced velocity is given by
u2 = up =

a1

p2
p1

"

2
+1
p2
p1

1
+1

#1=2

Since up = u2 = u3 and p2 = p3 we can equate these expressions:

"
2a4
1
1
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p2
p4

1)=2

a1

p2
p1

"

2
+1
p2
p1

1
+1

#1=2

Midterm Exam - Solution

This last expression can be thought of as an equation f (p2 ) = 0 where

f (p2 ) =

a1

p2
p1

"

2
+1
p2
p1

1
+1

"
2a4
1
1

#1=2

p2
p4

1)=2

Thus the unknown pressure p2 is the root of this equation. A numerical solution of this
equation yields:
p2 = p3 ' 2:85 105 P a J
(b) What is the shock speed cS of the moving shock front?
Solution. The shock speed is determined according to
s
+ 1 p2
cS = a1
2
p1

1 +1

Substituting the known values we nd

cS = 643:8 m=s J
(c) What is the induced velocity behind the moving shock?
Solution. The induced speed is given by
u2 = u3 =

a1

p2
p1

"

2
+1
p2
p1

1
+1

#1=2

Numerically, this evaluates to

u2 = u3 = 439:1 m=s J
and is directed to the left, following the shock.
(d) What is the speed of propagation of the leading edge of the expansion wave? the speed of the
trailing edge?
Solution. The speed of the leading edge is that of the sonic speed in the undisturbed gas a4
uLE = a4 =
The speed of the trailing edge is given by
a3

= a4 +

RT4 ' 347 m=s J

1
2

u3

1
( 439:1)
2
259:4 m=s J

= a4 +
=

(e) Plot the velocity distribution in the shock tube 0.5 seconds after the membrane has been ruptured.
Solution. In front of the moving normal shock and also in front of the leading edge of the
expansion wave, the gas is undisturbed and therefore has zero velocity. Behind the normal
shock and extending to the trailing edge of the expansion fan there is the constant velocity
u2 = u3 = up . Within the expansion fan, the velocity transitions linearly from up to u = 0.

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Midterm Exam - Solution

normal shock

expansion fan

Figure 4: The velocity distribution within the shock tube at t = 0:5 sec

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Midterm Exam - Solution