Pressure rise is one of the key operation characteristics of a wave rotor combustor (WRC), which would affect the power performance of the propulsion system based on WRC. To find out the pressure rise characteristics of WRC, a simplified test system of WRC was established, which is a single-channel multiple-cycle WRC with a rotating inlet/outlet port. The effects of the filling speed of air-fuel mixture, the rotating speed of inlet/outlet port, and the equivalence ratio of combustible air-fuel mixture on pressure rise characteristics of WRC are presented. The pressure rise is derived from the flow stagnation of filling combustible air-fuel mixture and the constant volume combustion in channel. With the rotating speed of inlet/outlet port increasing, the pressure rise significantly improves and the maximum average pressure is 6.3 atm. When the rotating speed of inlet/outlet port is constant, there is a suitable filling speed of air-fuel mixture and an optimum equivalence ratio for combustible air-fuel mixture. With the increasing of the rotating speed of inlet/outlet port, the suitable filling speed of combustible air-fuel mixture also increases and the operating range of the equivalence ratio of combustible air-fuel mixture becomes narrow.

To find the flame formation and propagation characteristics in an ethylene fuelled wave rotor combustor (WRC), a simplified WRC test system was established. It is a single-channel multiple-cycle WRC with a rotating inlet/outlet port. Through varying the parameters such as the filling speed of the air–fuel mixture, rotating speed of the inlet/outlet port, and equivalence ratio of the combustive air–fuel mixture, the flame formation and propagation characteristics in an ethylene fuelled WRC are presented and discussed. While the rotating speed of the inlet/outlet port increases, the propagation speed of the flame also gradually increases. When the rotating speed of the inlet/outlet port is 1500 rpm, the propagation speed of the flame reaches 45 m/s. A higher rotating speed of the inlet/outlet port leads to a faster expansion of the reaction zone. Furthermore, the inclination angle and corrugation of the flame front in the channel of the WRC with a different rotating speed and different equivalence ratio are presented and discussed.

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This paper establishes a simplified test system for internal combustion wave rotor with a single channel and designs different intensifying combustion obstacles and arrangements. Moreover, this paper analyzes the intensifying effect of obstacles on combustion process of the internal combustion wave rotor from the stable operation range, pressure gain and flame progression process perspective. The results show that the range of inlet velocity under stable operation of the internal combustion wave rotor narrows after the addition of obstacles, and the corresponding velocity values substantially reduce while the flame propagation speed can be improved by 2 -4 times. At the rotation rate of 1500 rpm, the pressure gain increases significantly during the combustion process. These results provide technical supports for further research and application of the internal combustion wave rotor.

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