Cylindrical Rotating Detonation Engine with Propellant Injection Cooling

Abstract

A cylindrical rotating detonation engine (24 mm diameter) with multiple injector holes on the combustor side wall for both propellant injection and cooling by injector gas flow was designed and tested. As each set of injectors created its own detonations, the synchronized detonation waves propagated along the three injector rows. From the axial view, those detonation combustion regions stood off from the injector surface as the non-well-mixed propellant existed between the wall and the combustion zone. This combustion region tended to broaden in lateral and radial directions as the mass flow rate increased by pushing its region with the injected propellant. Wall heat flux and heat balance were evaluated by a one-dimensional unsteady heat transfer model with propellant injection cooling. Even when the flow rate was doubled, the increase in the wall heat flux was only 18–25%. This heat trend and the image of standoff self-chemiluminescence from the injector surface implied that a non-well-mixed unburned propellant acted as a heat-reduction layer to ease heat load into the combustor. Measurements and thermal analysis verified the flow structure near the injector and heat-exchange mechanism due to the propellant gas flow, which has a potential for thermal steady operation.