Author : Susmit Joshi and Gaurav Kulkarni

The scramjets are an emerging technology in the field of air-breathing propulsion. They not only ensure higher efficiency to produce thrust at the supersonic and hypersonic velocities, where only alternatives are the rocket engines, but also increase the safety and economy of the flight. The scramjets are specifically viewed as to potentially supervene the rocket engines in the atmospheric stage of the space launch. The associated phenomena with design of the engine are complex and require deep studies and experimentation, which have been explored by various researchers since the last half-century. This paper is aimed to provide an insight into the time-tested popular trends in the development of scramjets, their engineering considerations, experimentation and their modifications such as the operation in dual-modes to extend the operational range and the flight validation that has been carried out until now.

Keywords: Air-breathing propulsion, Dual-mode scramjet, Hypersonics, Scramjets, Supersonic combustion

Article published in International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.6, No.6 (Dec-2016)