The Pulsejet Engine - A Review of Its Development Potential

Abstract

The pulsejet was the object of much concentrated study immediately after World War II, but in spite of this intense study, the pulsejet has never lived up to its promised performance. Recently, there has been a renewal of interest in the pulsejet and a considerable amount of research and experimentation has been conducted. Some recent developments are: pulsejets which are capable of supersonic operation, use of pulsejets for auxiliary power generation, and attempts to use a pulsejet as a combustor for a gas turbine engine. This paper reviews this recent work and includes thermodynamic analysis, a description of wave processes, and a description of the ignition mechanism. The problems of noise and vibration are also addressed. From this study of recent work, several potential applications are proposed, and recommendations about areas requiring further study are made. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1974
Accession Number
AD0787439

Entities

People

  • John G. O'brien

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Auxiliary Power Units
  • Combustion
  • Combustion Chambers
  • Combustion Products
  • Combustors
  • Exhaust Gases
  • Gas Turbines
  • Ignition
  • Ignition Lag
  • Jet Engines
  • Remotely Piloted Vehicles
  • Second World War
  • Turbine Components
  • Turbines
  • United States
  • Vibration

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Educational Psychology
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics