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Engines – A New Tool for the Design of Combustion Chambers

A reduced-scale combustion chamber model is used for the precise reproduction on a test rig of the ignition performances of a complete configuration.

A partial model of the Ardiden 1 combustion chamber has been evaluated in altitude conditions on the Mercato test rig (Onera Fauga-Mauzac). This is the first time that a reduced-scale model has been used for precise reproduction of the ignition performances of a complete chamber.
For Safran, this is a real innovation: a design aid tool to reduce the development costs.

This assembly, composed of an ignition module and three injection systems, is equipped with wide optical access points. It also allows Onera to study in detail the mechanisms of flame propagation and so contribute to the completion and validation of the numerical tools of the Cedre code.

Sector of combustion chamber simulated by the reduced-scale model of the Mercato test rig and viewing of the fuel fog before ignition.

The experimental approach and the numerical approach are inseparable:
this is the specific feature of the Onera approach to helping industrial partners