Tracking the Fuel Trajectory from Each Injector for Fuel–Air Mixing in Supersonic Flows

Fuel injection and mixing remain a critical challenge in the development of supersonic propulsion systems. The efficiency of both mixing and combustion significantly influences the overall performance of these systems, underscoring the importance of optimizing fuel injection strategies. Injector arrays are extensively employed in such propulsion systems; however, conventional design methodologies predominantly focus on global mixing efficiency, neglecting injector-specific performance metrics. This research introduces a fuel trajectory tracing methodology, wherein hydrogen from each injector is treated as a distinct species, despite having identical physical and chemical properties. This approach enables the tracking of hydrogen transport and mixing within supersonic flows. The methodology has been demonstrated to accurately capture the mass fraction distribution of hydrogen from individual injectors without perturbing the flow field. Based on these distributions, injector-specific mixing and combustion efficiencies can be quantified, providing valuable insights for optimizing injector configurations and enhancing propulsion system performance.