A Premixed Rotating Detonation Engine: Design and Experimentation
Abstract
Desire for a more efficient air breathing engine has shifted research attention to the Rotating Detonation Engine (RDE). Detonation is a more efficient combustion process than deflagration and provides a pressure gain. The RDE detonation cycle occurs in a compact volume to produce a high specific impulse engine. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models predict comparable specific impulse and faster detonation wave speeds than measured in experimental RDE. The CFD models frequently assume premixed reactants to facilitate computation. A premixed experimental RDE was designed, constructed, and operated to test if premixing fuel and oxidizer caused the discrepancy between computational and experimental results. The premixed RDE required a feed system that simultaneously arrested flashback and fed the detonation. Flashback arresting feed designs were explored with single injector tests. Application of modified flame quenching and burner stability theories produced in a feed system design with feed slots 2.5 cm long by 0.5 mm high. With an ethylene and air mixture, the premixed RDE operated in a narrower band of equivalence ratios than non-premixed RDE. Chemiluminescence suggest that premixing without modeling deflagration caused CFD wave speeds to be faster than experimental results. Future CFD studies should assume unmixed reactants and model injection geometry.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 16, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1054250
Entities
People
- Ionio Q. Andrus
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology