Influence of Sizing on Rotating Detonation Combustor Performance

Abstract

The main goal of the project was to build and start-up a rocket engine with detonation combustion chamber, as well as to create a test stand for testing the engine and detonation. Recently, intensive research on the applications of the continuously rotating detonation (CRD) in the propulsion system have been undertaken. It has been demonstrated that it is possible to improve the engine efficiency by 3-7 percent. The simplest engine utilizing a continuously rotating detonation is the rocket engine. In Rotating Detonation Rocket Engines (RDRE), the fuel and the oxidizer are injected into a cylindrical detonation chamber, and the rotating detonation continuously propagates as long as the fuel and oxidizer are supplied to the chamber. As a first step the tests were carried out in the shock tube (detonation shock tube) in order to develop the detonation shock measurement methodology and also as a way for protection of piezoelectric pressure sensors (protection against the effects of high temperatures). The research of detonation engine on this stage of project was used to check the influence of combustion chamber geometry (primarily the height of combustion chamber) on engine performance and detonation parameters. The comparative experiments of rocket engine with detonation combustion chamber and deflagration combustion chamber were conducted. A key result was that an introduced channel eccentricity resulted in 100 percent receptivity of direction of wave propagations. As well, the number of waves depends directly on critical length of detonation cell (lc) and rate of mixture supply.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 29, 2019
Accession Number
AD1077265

Entities

People

  • Piotr Wolanski

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Aluminum Foil
  • Cell Size
  • Combustion
  • Combustion Chambers
  • Combustion Products
  • Detonation Waves
  • Ignition
  • Mass Flow
  • Measurement
  • Piezoelectric Sensors
  • Rocket Engines
  • Shock Tubes
  • Shock Waves
  • Spark Plugs
  • Specific Impulse
  • Turbines

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Combustion Dynamics and Shock Wave Physics.
  • Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) Technology.