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Owing to their high thermodynamic efficiency, pulsating combustion cycles have become an attractive option for future gas turbine designs. Yet, their potential gains should not be outweighed by losses due to unsteady pressure wave interactions between engine components. Consequently, the geometric engine design moves into focus. Ideally, one would quickly test several different principal layouts with respect to their qualitative behavior, select the most promising variants and then move on to detailed optimization. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) appears as the methodology of choice for such preparatory testing. Yet, the inevitable geometric complexity of such engines makes fully resolved CFD an arduous and expensive task necessitating computations on top high-performance hardware, even with modern adaptive mesh refinement in place. In the present work we look at the initial flow field of a shock generated by a pulse detonation combustor (PDC) which leaves the combustion chamber and enters the plenum. We provide first indicators, however, that overall mechanical loads, represented by large-scale means of, e.g., mass, energy, and momentum fluxes can be well estimated on the basis of rather coarsely resolved CFD calculations. Comparing high-resolution simulations of the exit of a strong shock from a combustion tube with experimental schlieren photographs, we first

Mitigation of pressure pulsations in the exhaust of a pulse detonation combustor is crucial for operation with a downstream turbine. For this purpose, a device termed the shock divider is designed and investigated. The intention of the divider is to split the leading shock wave into two weaker waves that propagate along separated ducts with different cross sections, allowing the shock waves to travel with different velocities along different paths. The separated shock waves redistribute the energy of the incident shock wave. The shock dynamics inside the divider are investigated using numerical simulations. A second-order dimensional split finite volume MUSCL-scheme is used to solve the compressible Euler equations. Furthermore, low-cost simulations are performed using geometrical shock dynamics to predict the shock wave propagation inside the divider. The numerical simulations are compared to high-speed schlieren images and time-resolved total pressure recording. For the latter, a high-frequency pressure probe is placed at the divider outlet, which is shown to resolve the transient total pressure during the shock passage. Moreover, the separation of the shock waves is investigated and found to grow as the divider duct width ratio increases. The numerical and experimental results allow for a better understanding of the dynamic evolution of the flow inside the divider and inform its capability to reduce the pressure pulsations at the exhaust of the pulse detonation combustor.

The dynamic evolution of a highly underexpanded transient supersonic jet at the exit of a pulse detonation engine is investigated via high-resolution time-resolved schlieren and numerical simulations. Experimental evidence is provided for the presence of a second triple shock configuration along with a shocklet between the reflected shock and the slipstream, which has no analogue in a steady-state underexpanded jet. A pseudo-steady model is developed, which allows for the determination of the post-shock flow condition for a transient propagating oblique shock. This model is applied to the numerical simulations to reveal the mechanism leading to the formation of the second triple point. Accordingly, the formation of the triple point is initiated by the transient motion of the reflected shock, which is induced by the convection of the vortex ring. While the vortex ring embedded shock move essentially as a translating strong oblique shock, the reflected shock is rotating towards its steady state position. This results in a pressure discontinuity that must be resolved by the formation of a shocklet.

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