Parametric Cycle Analysis of an Ideal Pulse Detonation Engine

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to present a mathematical description of an ideal pulse-detonation-engine-based on parametric cycle analysis. The parametric cycle analysis is presented in terms of parameters similar to those for the well-known parametric cycle analyses for the ideal turbojet engine and the ideal ramjet engine. The performance characteristics of specific thrust, thrust-specific fuel consumption, fuel-to-air ratio, thermal efficiency, propulsive efficiency, and overall efficiency are presented as functions of the two variables: compressor total pressure ratio and freestream flight Mach number . This work provides algebraic equations that can be used conveniently to investigate the ideal pulse detonation engine performance as a function of a variety of input parameters. It is hoped that this work will aid in exploring the performance of the ideal pulse detonation engine from a big-picture perspective.