Experimental Investigation of Nozzle Effects on Thrust and Inlet Pressure of an Air-breathing Pulse Detonation Engine

Abstract

Nozzle effects on thrust and inlet pressure of a multi-cycle air-breathing pulse detonation engine (APDE) are investigated experimentally. An APDE with 68 mm in diameter and 2 050 mm in length is operated using gasoline/air mixture. Straight nozzle, converging nozzle, converging-diverging nozzle and diverging nozzle are tested. The results show that thrust augmentation of converging-diverging nozzle, diverging nozzle or straight nozzle is better than that of converging nozzle on the whole. Thrust augmentation of straight nozzle is worse than those of converging-diverging nozzle and diverging nozzle. Thrust augmentations of diverging nozzle with larger expansion ratio and converging-diverging nozzle with larger throat area range from 20% to 40% on tested frequencies and are better than those of congeneric other nozzles respectively. Nozzle effects on inlet pressure are also researched. At each frequency it is indicated that filling pressures and average peak pressures of inlet with diverging nozzle and converging-diverging nozzle with large throat cross section area are higher than those with straight nozzle and converging nozzle. Pressures near thrust wall increase in an increase order from without nozzle, with diverging nozzle, straight nozzle and converging-diverging nozzle to converging nozzle.