I am seeking a good reference on how afterburner ignition systems work on existing systems in high altitude/low pressure conditions. Designs and drawings or performance data would be useful.
As I recall, there was a series of concentric flame-holder rings down-stream of the last turbine-stage. Each ring had a fuel distribution system in the ring.
1st-stage augmenter: fuel was fed to the inner [outer?] ring.
2nd-stage augmenter: fuel was fed to the inner [outer?] ring and the next [adjacent] ring.
3rd, 4th, 5th stages had similar increasing fuel-dump and thrust effects.
Ignition was simple: at full [military] thrust the TET was +1100F and easily** ignited the hot fuel for each augmenter stage. The flame holder insure that combustion occurred just aft of the rings, not down-stream where the added energy would have nothing to react-thrust against.
** JP-4 was highly volatile... and lit-off easily... even at extreme cold temperatures. JP-8 was a different story... hard to light-off with extremely cold fuel [generally during deep-cold winter operations].