A Multidisciplinary Study of Pulse Detonation Engine Propulsion

Abstract

The Penn State-led MURI effort on Pulse Detonation Engine (PDE) Research is detailed in this report. The multidisciplinary research effort brought together a team of leading researchers in the areas of the initiation and propagation of detonations, liquid hydrocarbon spray detonation, combustion chemistry, injector and flow field mixing, and advanced diagnostics to study the fundamental phenomena of importance under both static and dynamic conditions representative of actual pulse detonation engine operation. The team focused its effort on conducting key experiments and analysis in the areas of (a) Fundamental Detonation Studies, (b) Injection, Mixing and Initiation, (c) Inlet-Combustor-Nozzle Performance, (d) Multi-Cycle Operation, and (e) Computer Simulation and Cycle Analysis. These study areas are five of seven topic areas that have been delineated by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in their roadmap on pulse detonation engine research necessary for developing the technologies needed for the design of an air-breathing pulse detonation engine. The results obtained in these five study areas under this effort by researchers at Penn State, Caltech and Princeton University, coupled with the results of the effort by the sister MURI team led by the University of California at San Diego in some of the aforementioned study areas and in the remaining two study areas of (a) Diagnostics and Sensors, and (b) Dynamics and Control provide the foundation needed for the development of a PDE system. The overall success of the program stems from ONR led coordination that fostered collaboration between the two MURI research efforts and government laboratories and industry research through a series of progress workshops held at six-month intervals.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2003
Accession Number
ADA409967

Entities

People

  • Chung K. Law
  • Joseph E. Shepherd
  • Robert J. Santoro
  • Vigor Yang

Organizations

  • Pennsylvania State University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Alkanes
  • Boundary Layer
  • Burning Rate
  • Chemical Reaction Properties
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Chemical Synthesis
  • Chemistry
  • Combustion
  • Combustion Products
  • Combustors
  • Computational Science
  • Computer Simulations
  • Ignition
  • Ignition Lag
  • Laser Induced Fluorescence
  • Pressure Measurement
  • Three Dimensional

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Research Science/Academic Research
  • Technical Research and Report Writing.