The Effect of the Inlet Total Pressure and the Number of Detonation Waves on Rotating Detonation Engines

Abstract

This paper presented a three-dimensional numerical study of rotating detonation engines, exploring the effect of the inlet total pressure and the number of detonation waves on the performance of rotating detonation engines. It was found that under the same total pressure of the inlet fuel, the number of detonation waves had little influence on the specific impulse, the thrust and the outlet flow of RDE. The number of detonation waves, however, affected the time needed to reach stable detonation. Besides, there was instability phenomenon in the development of detonation waves due to the relation between the number of detonation waves and the inlet total pressure. In order to speed up the process from ignition to stable detonation, the total pressure of the inlet fuel should match with the ignitions.