An integrated swirl/regenerative cooling method for enhanced cooling performance

To address the issue of insufficient heat transfer in regenerative cooling systems for scramjet, this study is the first to propose an integrated swirl/regenerative cooling method and designs a swirl channel to effectively introduce swirl into regenerative cooling channels. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations demonstrate that swirl significantly enhances the flow and heat transfer processes in subcritical and transcritical sections of cooling channel, reducing the wall temperature by 67 K. In pyrolysis section, swirl enhances the utilization of its chemical heat sink, increasing the total conversion rate from 10.7% to 12.9%. Furthermore, this study reveals the evolution mechanism of swirl and clarifies the relationship between swirl intensity and cooling performance, providing mechanistic insights for the design and application of swirl in regenerative cooling systems.