RETRACTED: Droplet Breakup and Evaporation in Liquid-Fueled Detonations

Abstract

In liquid-fueled detonations droplets are subjected to a myriad of complex codependent physical phenomena occurring on overlapping temporal and spatial scales. Developing an understanding of droplet dynamics in such an environment with high pressures, temperatures, reactions, and unsteady accelerations is imperative to developing detonation-driven propulsion systems. These condition are also relevant to other challenging engineering problems such as hydrometeor interactions with hypersonic flight vehicles. This article describes a new multiphase detonation tube facility capable of creating and imaging liquid-fueled detonations and presents initial experiments highlighting the role of droplet breakup in the detonation. Experimental initial conditions, including the droplet size distribution, are characterized and reported. Droplets interactions with the detonation wave are observed with laser optical imaging and analyzed to measure breakup cloud morphology and droplet survival time. Data from the experiments is compared to existing breakup and evaporation models for shock-droplet interactions. The results provide a means for validating more complex droplet models for detonations and hypersonic regimes.