Shock-Initiated Combustion in an Airbreathing, Pulse Detonation Engine-Crossover System

Abstract

An airbreathing pulse detonation engine-crossover system is developed to characterize the feasibility of shock-initiated combustion within an airbreathing pulse detonation engine. A shock wave is transferred through a crossover tube that connects a spark-ignited driver pulse detonation engine to the airbreathing, driven pulse detonation engine. Detonations in the driven pulse detonation engine develop from shock-initiated combustion caused by shock wave reflection. The pulse detonation engine-crossover system increases system efficiency through decreased deflagration-to-detonation transition distance while employing a single spark source to initiate a system consisting of multiple detonation tubes. The initiation effectiveness of shock-initiated combustion is compared to spark discharge initiation and detonation injection through a predetonator. Increasing the Reynolds number enhances combustion wave acceleration. However, for all initiation methods, the system requires a device to transition the combustion wave to a detonation. Shock-initiated combustion and predetonator initiation produce comparable detonation transition runup lengths. With an incident shock wave Mach number of , the runup length is decreased by up to 61% compared to the spark discharge method. Similar combustion evolution is observed for an incident shock wave of strength .