Experimental Investigation of Detonation Propagation Modes and Thrust Performance in a Small Rotating Detonation Engine Using C 2 H 4 /O 2 Propellant

Hyung-Seok Han, Eun Sung Lee and Jeong-Yeol Choi
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Hyung-Seok Han: Department of Aerospace Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Korea
Eun Sung Lee: Department of Aerospace Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Korea
Jeong-Yeol Choi: Department of Aerospace Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Korea

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-20

Abstract: A small rotating detonation engine (RDE) model and the corresponding experimental setup were constructed for the experimental investigation of the detonation propagation characteristics and thrust performance of a circular RDE. Experiments were conducted at a range of 0.3–2.5 equivalence ratio with a total mass flow rate of less than 180.0 g/s using a C 2 H 4 /O 2 mixture. Irregularly unstable detonative combustion occurs immediately after the detonation initiation, which includes initiation, propagation, decaying, and the merging of detonation waves. Following this, periodically unsteady detonative combustion occurs in the circular channel, resulting in the stable operation of the RDE. During stable operation, two detonation waves are predominant, rotating along the wall at a speed lower than the Chapman–Jouguet (CJ) detonation speed. The characteristic velocity efficiency is approximately 73% on average. The low characteristic velocity efficiency is presumed to be caused by the unoptimized combustion channel and the poor mixing efficiency owing to the two-dimensional injector configuration. The effect of the RDE component design and the RDE flow field characteristics need to be further investigated for improving the performance of the RDE.

Keywords: pressure gain combustion; rotating detonation engine; detonation propagation characteristics; thrust performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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