Physics

Aerospace engineering

Meteorology

Organic chemistry

Hypersonic flight

Airframe

Supersonic speed

Near space

Astronautics

Propulsion

Combustion

Hypersonic speed

Engineering

Rocket (weapon)

Aerospace

Aeronautics

Chemistry

Aviation

Scramjet

Combustor

Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics

Great efforts have been dedicated during the last decades to the research and development of hypersonic aircrafts that can fly at several times the speed of sound. These aerospace vehicles have revolutionary applications in national security as advanced hypersonic weapons, in space exploration as reusable stages for access to low Earth orbit, and in commercial aviation as fast long-range methods for air transportation of passengers around the globe. This review addresses the topic of supersonic combustion, which represents the central physical process that enables scramjet hypersonic propulsion systems to accelerate aircrafts to ultra-high speeds. The description focuses on recent experimental flights and ground-based research programs and highlights associated fundamental flow physics, subgrid-scale model development, and full-system numerical simulations.

Supersonic Combustion in Air-Breathing Propulsion Systems for Hypersonic Flight