High-Pressure Rotating Detonation Engine Testing and Flameholding Analysis with Hydrogen and Natural Gas

Stechmann, David P.; Heister, Stephen D.; Sardeshmukh, Swanand V.

doi:10.2514/6.2017-1931

Cited by 29 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…For the flow conditions investigated, fuel and oxidizer manifold pressures are high enough to cause the injector flow to be choked whenever a detonation wave is not located directly over a specific injection site. A pre-detonator tube using GCH 4 and GO 2 , and firing tangentially into the annulus near the injector face is used for ignition. A planar detonation wave is generated in the pre-detonator tube from a small volume (53 cm 3 ) of premixed gas located in an upstream reservoir that is ignited using a spark plug.…”

Section: Experiments Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, rotating detonation rocket engines (RDREs) can exhibit an increase in chamber pressure, temperature and exhaust gas velocity for a substantially lower injection pressure through a constant-volume combustion process, compared to constant-pressure devices. Recent studies have demonstrated the successful operation of RDREs using both gaseous [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] and liquid fuels [1,8]. However, insight into the optimal method to properly expand the highly unsteady exhaust flow from the RDRE is still limited, as reflected waves back upstream from a physical throat constriction can interact with the reactant fill region to disrupt the detonation zone [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performance of a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine with Various Convergent Nozzles and Chamber Lengths

et al. 2021

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A rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) with various convergent nozzles and chamber lengths is investigated. Three hundred hot-fire tests are performed using methane and oxygen ranging from equivalence ratio equaling 0.5–2.5 and total propellant flow up to 0.680 kg/s. For the full-length (76.2 mm) chamber study, three nozzles at contraction ratios ϵc = 1.23, 1.62 and 2.40 are tested. Detonation is exhibited for each geometry at equivalent conditions, with only fuel-rich operability slightly increased for the ϵc = 1.62 and 2.40 nozzles. Despite this, counter-propagation, i.e., opposing wave sets, becomes prevalent with increasing constriction. This is accompanied by higher number of waves, lower wave speed Uwv and higher unsteadiness. Therefore, the most constricted nozzle always has the lowest Uwv. In contrast, engine performance increases with constriction, where thrust and specific impulse linearly increase with ϵc for equivalent conditions, with a 27% maximum increase. Additionally, two half-length (38.1 mm) chambers are studied including a straight chamber and ϵc = 2.40 nozzle; these shortened geometries show equal performance to their longer equivalent. Furthermore, the existence of counter-propagation is minimized. Accompanying high-fidelity simulations and injection recovery analyses describe underlying injection physics driving chamber wave dynamics, suggesting the physical throat/injector interaction influences counter-propagation.

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Section: Experiments Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine with Various Convergent Nozzles and Chamber Lengths

et al. 2021

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“…Profiles are included in each case for mean conditions (P cp ) near 10 and 20 atm and for ratios between manifold pressure and mean chamber pressure P R of 1.25, 1.5, 2.0, and 3.0. These conditions envelop the typical operating pressure ratios associated with experiments conducted by Purdue University in recent test campaigns [7,12]. Fuel temperatures of 300 K and oxygen temperatures of 500 K are also set in this analysis to mirror typical observed temperatures during the test campaigns that focused on high-pressure rocket RDE conditions.…”

Section: Injection Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Depending on the relative phasing of the two propellants, the early part of the injector recovery process provides an environment that is supportive of potential preignition. A mechanism that appeared to have played a role in prior rocket-inspired hydrogen/oxygen tests [7] involves local flameholding by the transverse jet injector elements themselves. Oxygen/fuel mixtures in the reentrant region behind the developing jets may be mixed with hot product gases from the prior cycle as illustrated in Fig.…”

Section: Nomenclaturementioning

confidence: 99%