Thermodynamic Estimation of Fuel Efficiency for a High-Speed Ramjet Running on Hydrocarbon Fuel with Boron and Beryllium Hydride Additives

We carried out a thermodynamic analysis of fuel efficiency for a high-speed ramjet running on hydrocarbon fuel with high-energy boron and beryllium hydride additives. We use a ramjet featuring a combustion chamber with a constant cross-section as an example to show that when the boron content in hydrocarbon fuel is 10...20 % (mass-wise), the increase in fuel efficiency is less than 1...3 % as compared to regular hydrocarbon fuel. Consequently, using boron as a high-energy additive to hydrocarbon fuel is unfeasible. For beryllium hydride the effect is more pronounced and lies in the range of 4...9 %

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