LLNL performs scramjet tests

A MINIATURE supersonic-combustion ramjet (scramjet) engine was fired at Mach 8 from a 120m (400ft)-long gas gun on 18 April, as part of a US Air Force hypersonic-research programme.

The hydrocarbon engine, was fired from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) gas gun and flew for less than 30m, before disintegrating against the side of a bunker.

The shot was funded by the USAF and conducted at the LLNL by John Hopkins University. The work is part of the USAF's HyTECH programme, which inherited earlier research performed with NASA on the cancelled X-30 National AeroSpace Plane and the joint USAF/NASA HySTP scramjet flight-demonstration programme.

LLNL says that the firing tested "the engine itself and the associated aerodynamics". NASA is providing computational fluid dynamics analysis work and consulting support to the programme.

Source: Flight International