Status of combustion research on high-energy fuels for ram jets Page: 2 of 76
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TECH LIBRARY KAFB, NM
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NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS
RESEARCH MEMORANDUM
STATUS OF COMBUSTION R HESEACH ON HIGH-ENERGY FUES FOR RAM JETS
By Walter T. Olson and Louis C. Gibbons
SUMMARY
To assist the research planning of government and industry, a
review of the present status of research and development on high-energy
fuels for ram-jet propulsion has been made. An examination of published
information indicates that eleven organizations in this country have
conducted or are conducting experimental investigations on the use of
high-energy fuels in ram jets; eight of these organizations are cur-
rently active in the field. The materials included in these experi-
ments are aluminum, boron, boron hydrides, carbon, coal and coal-light
metal compositions, liquid hydrogen, and magnesium.
On the basis of heating value, fuel density, air specific impulse,
and fuel-weight specific impulse certain substances offer certain per-
formance advantages over conventional hydrocarbon fuels of the gasoline
or kerosene type. These performance advantages accruing to a fuel are
very much a function of the application intended and perfect generaliza-
4 tions can hardly be made. If beryllium, its compounds, and the undis-
covered possibilities among compounds of light metals and hydrogen are
not considered because of economic reasons, then, from thermodynamic
considerations, the boron hydrides, hydrogen, boron carbide, and boron
offer improved range or pay load for long-range, ram-jet powered vehi-
cles. Magnesium, aluminum, and boron, in that order, offer higher
thrusts from any tail-pipe burner or ram-jet engine of fixed air-
handling capacity, or, conversely, permit the smallest ram-jet engines
for a given thrust minus drag. Because these three fuels also have
high bulk densities, they offer improved range or pay load for short-
range ram-jet vehicles. Highest values of fuel-volume specific impulse
belong to boron or boron carbide, carbon, and aluminum in that order.
Where solid fuels are to be burned for rather short duration, the sim-
plicity of combustion of solid blocks or fuel beds appears very attrac-
tive. Lack of certain thermodynamic data has made complete evaluation
of all fuels difficult or impossible.
Although active work on high-energy fuels in the United States
dates from late 1945, experimental work may still be considered in the
early research stages. The combustion research has been in burners no
larger than 6 inches in diameter. Pressed briquettes of carbon, coal,
coal and light metals, aluminum, boron, and magnesium formulated withAENT
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Olson, Walter T. & Gibbons, Louis C. Status of combustion research on high-energy fuels for ram jets, report, October 3, 1951; (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc58823/m1/2/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.