IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v335y2025ics0360544225038290.html

Heat transfer characteristics and flow distribution behavior of pyrolytic ammonia in scramjet regenerative cooling channels

Author

Listed:
  • Jiang, Tao
  • Zhan, Tao-Tao
  • Li, Yi-Hang
  • Yang, Kai
  • He, Ni
  • Wang, Ning
  • Pan, Yu

Abstract

Regenerative cooling technology is crucial for the thermal protection of hypersonic vehicles. However, traditional hydrocarbon fuels face challenges of insufficient cooling capacity and coking issues at high Mach flight. Ammonia, with its high heat sink, hydrogen-rich, and non-coking characteristics, shows promise as an alternative fuel to meet the thermal protection demands of scramjets. Therefore, this paper investigates the multiphysics coupling mechanisms of ammonia pyrolysis-flow-heat transfer and flow distribution characteristics in a regenerative cooling system for scramjets, using ammonia as the cooling fluid. The performance of ammonia and hydrocarbon fuels within the regenerative cooling channel is compared. Then, the multiphysics coupling characteristics of ammonia pyrolysis-flow-heat transfer under Robin boundary conditions are revealed. And the flow distribution and flow non-uniformity of ammonia in parallel channels with manifolds is clarified. The results show that under the given working conditions, the heat sink capacity of ammonia at the outlet (776.8 K) is 22.6 % higher, and the temperature non-uniformity coefficient is 17.7 % lower than that of n-decane (659.1 K), demonstrating significantly better overall performance compared to hydrocarbon fuels. Furthermore, compared to conditions without pyrolysis, ammonia pyrolysis can further reduce the wall temperature by approximately 18.7 % (from 1583.7 K to 1288.2 K). The occurrence of the pyrolysis reaction, the increase in the external gas temperature and convective heat transfer coefficient all exacerbate flow non-uniformity in the parallel channel. This study provides a theoretical foundation for the application of ammonia in regenerative cooling technology for hypersonic scramjets.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiang, Tao & Zhan, Tao-Tao & Li, Yi-Hang & Yang, Kai & He, Ni & Wang, Ning & Pan, Yu, 2025. "Heat transfer characteristics and flow distribution behavior of pyrolytic ammonia in scramjet regenerative cooling channels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:335:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225038290
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.138187
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225038290
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.138187?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. M, Muneeshwaran & Kim, Hyun Jin & Tayyab, Muhammad & Li, Wenzhe & Nawaz, Kashif & Yang, Cheng-Min, 2025. "Flow maldistribution in plate heat exchangers – Impact, analysis, and solutions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    2. Zhou, Xingyu & Zhang, Silong & Zuo, Jingying & Wei, Jianfei & Guo, Yujie & Bao, Wen, 2024. "Study on combined thermal protection scheme integrating supercritical CO2 regenerative cooling and fuel film cooling used for scramjet engines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    3. Han, Hongbo & Wang, Renting & Bao, Zewei, 2024. "Effect of secondary flow and secondary reactions on pyrolysis and heat transfer of supercritical hydrocarbon aviation fuel in a U-bend tube," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    4. Zhan, Taotao & Wang, Ning & Chen, Jian & Yang, Kai & Zhu, Chenyang & Wang, Tao & Zhang, Ying & He, Maogang, 2025. "Modification of thermophysical model by friction theory and comparative analysis of regenerative cooling performance with hydrocarbon fuels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 330(C).
    5. Wang, Cong & Feng, Yu & Liu, Zekuan & Wang, Yilin & Fang, Jiwei & Qin, Jiang & Shao, Jiahui & Huang, Hongyan, 2022. "Assessment of thermodynamic performance and CO2 emission reduction for a supersonic precooled turbine engine cycle fueled with a new green fuel of ammonia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PA).
    6. Jiangyu Hu & Ning Wang & Jin Zhou & Yu Pan, 2021. "A Parametrical Study on Convective Heat Transfer between High-Temperature Gas and Regenerative Cooling Panel," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-19, March.
    7. Xu, Jing & Cheng, Kunlin & Dang, Chaolei & Wang, Yilin & Liu, Zekuan & Qin, Jiang & Liu, Xiaoyong, 2023. "Performance comparison of liquid metal cooling system and regenerative cooling system in supersonic combustion ramjet engines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    8. Cheng, Kunlin & Xu, Jing & Dang, Chaolei & Qin, Jiang & Jing, Wuxing, 2022. "Performance evaluation of fuel indirect cooling based thermal management system using liquid metal for hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Weitong & Xu, Guoqiang & Gu, Xiuting & Liu, Yiang & Wang, Jiayang & Zhang, Jingzhi & Fu, Yanchen, 2025. "Synergistic heat recovery–dissipation architecture for hydrogen turbofans: Integrated heat current modeling with multi-parameter thermodynamic analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 338(C).
    2. Hu, Zhenyu & Gao, Zhan & Wang, Chenglong & Sun, Mingbo & Sun, Yongchao & Yang, Daoning & Xiong, Dapeng & Yuan, Yu, 2026. "Trade-off between propulsive performance and structural integrity in a scramjet under fluid–thermal–structural interaction," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 347(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ma, Xiaofeng & Shu, Yuchun & Zhao, Suyuan & Jiang, Peixue & Zhu, Yinhai, 2025. "Off-design performance analysis of a supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle coupled with a scramjet based on deep learning method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 341(C).
    2. Dang, Chaolei & Xu, Jing & Chen, Zhichao & Cheng, Kunlin & Qin, Jiang & Liu, Guodong, 2024. "Comparative study of different layouts in the closed-Brayton-cycle-based segmented cooling thermal management system for scramjets," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    3. Yang, Xuesen & Zhao, Wei & Zhao, Qingjun & Xiang, Xiaorong & Hu, Bin & Luo, Weiwei, 2024. "Performance optimization for an advanced geared turbofan engine integrated with cooled cooling air heat exchangers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    4. Ma, Xiaofeng & Guo, Hao & Jiang, Peixue & Zhu, Yinhai, 2025. "Performance analysis and design optimization of a supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle cooling and power generation system coupled with a scramjet," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 383(C).
    5. Xue, Zhuo & Wang, Cong & Wang, Rui & Lang, Lei & Zhao, Chengliang & JiWei, Fang & Xiu, Xinyan & Qin, Jiang & Yan, Peigang, 2025. "Research on the performance of an integrated active cooling and propulsion system for hypersonic glide vehicles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 337(C).
    6. Han, Changliang & Wu, Yizhong & Xu, Jianquan & Ying, Long, 2026. "Parameter study and multi-objective optimization analysis on gasification characteristics of supercritical methane in a submerged combustion vaporizer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 344(C).
    7. Li, Qingyu & Wang, Yizhou & Wang, Xu & Yang, Qingchun & Xu, Xu & Wang, Hongxin, 2025. "Thermodynamic analysis of boron powdered scramjet engine based on supercritical hydrocarbon fuel fluidization technology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    8. Xu, Jing & Cheng, Kunlin & Dang, Chaolei & Wang, Yilin & Liu, Zekuan & Qin, Jiang & Liu, Xiaoyong, 2023. "Performance comparison of liquid metal cooling system and regenerative cooling system in supersonic combustion ramjet engines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    9. Li, Weikang & Wang, Cong & Shen, Liyan & Fang, Jiwei & Wang, Xiangfeng & Qin, Jiang & Xu, Jie, 2024. "Performance analysis of hypersonic vehicle with integrated thermal protection and propulsion based on liquid ammonia-aviation kerosene," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    10. Zuo, Jingying & Xue, Jingjia & Zhang, Silong & Wei, Jianfei & Li, Xin & Bao, Wen & Cui, Naigang, 2025. "Thermal protection and drag reduction performances of shock-combustion-hydrocarbon fueled supersonic film cooling interaction under flight Mach 9," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    11. Guo, Xiyan & Li, Zhouhang & Zhai, Yuling & Wang, Hua, 2025. "Variable property effects on flow and thermal non-uniformity of a printed circuit heat exchanger," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    12. Li, Hui & Zou, Zhengping & Chen, Yiming & Du, Pengcheng & Fu, Chao & Wang, Yifan, 2023. "Experimental insights into thermal performance of a microtube precooler with drastic coolant properties variation and precooling impacts on turbojet engine operation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PA).
    13. Han, Hongbo & Wang, Renting & Bao, Zewei, 2024. "Effect of secondary flow and secondary reactions on pyrolysis and heat transfer of supercritical hydrocarbon aviation fuel in a U-bend tube," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    14. Jiang, Guohe & Chen, Min & Tang, Hailong & Zhang, Jiyuan, 2025. "Matching mechanism of a novel variable cycle propulsion concept with hydrogen intercooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    15. Liu, Zhan & Zhang, Yilun & Lv, Xinyu & Zhang, Yao & Liu, Junwei & Su, Chuanqi & Liu, Xianglei, 2023. "An electricity supply system by recovering the waste heat of commercial aeroengine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    16. Lv, Chengkun & Huang, Qian & Lan, Zhu & Chang, Juntao & Yu, Daren, 2023. "Parametric optimization and exergy analysis of a high mach number aeroengine with an ammonia mass injection pre-compressor cooling cycle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    17. Wang, Zhenhua & Feng, Yu & Chen, Fuqiang & Qin, Jiang, 2025. "Thermal behavior of steam reforming reaction at different aspect ratios in the scramjet engine cooling channel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    18. Liang, Zhirong & Liu, Haoye & Han, Zhangliang & Fan, Yukun & Lei, Lei, 2024. "Combustion and particulate I/SVOC characteristics of an aero-engine combustor with dual-stage under operational power and injection pressure," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    19. Luo, Qianqian & Luo, Lei & Xing, Haifeng & Du, Wei & Yan, Han, 2025. "Performance evaluation of regenerative cooling and closed Brayton cycle for hypersonic vehicles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    20. Liu, Weitong & Xu, Guoqiang & Gu, Xiuting & Yao, Jingshuai & Li, Mowen & Lei, Ming & Chen, Qun & Fu, Yanchen, 2025. "Experimental analysis and thermodynamic modeling for multilevel heat exchange system with multifluid in aero engines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 315(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:335:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225038290. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.