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From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Scramjets
Message-ID: <1990Nov27.045213.4141@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 27 Nov 90 04:52:13 GMT
References: <1990Nov20.021943.27530@cbnews.att.com> <1990Nov21.222433.21259@cbnews.att.com>
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From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib)
*>It's a semi-acronym, standing for "supersonic-combustion ramjet".  Orthodox
*>jet engines (including ramjets) decelerate incoming air to subsonic speed
*>before mixing in fuel and burning it.  At very high speeds this becomes
*>problematic, because the compression involved generates heat, and when the
*>incoming air temperature approaches the flame temperature, you don't get
*>much thrust out of the engine.  The only answer is to decelerate the air
*>less, leaving it supersonic during combustion.  This creates difficult
*>design problems, not least being the very short time available to mix
*>and burn the fuel, but it's the only way to build a highly-hypersonic
*>air-breathing engine.


I recall seeing an illustration of an airplane
equipped with scramjets. The artist's rendition 
showed the scramjets to be somewhat ope chambers 
mounted underneath the wing. Sort of like a series
of small vertical strakes or fins projecting from
under the wing. This suggests that the combustion
takes place in the open. Is this true?

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Iskandar Taib                        | The only thing worse than Peach ala
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