Structural response and wall thickness design of pulse detonation combustor

Abstract

This paper deals with the structural response and wall thickness design of pulse detonation combustor. The pulse detonation combustor is a chamber with cylindrical shell structure, which is loaded with internal moving detonation pressure and thermal load. Much higher strain and stress can be excited under moving pressure load than static load. How to choose the attenuation coefficient during detonation pressure were discussed. The results of structural response simulation based on finite element method were compared with analytical result in the literature. The multi-cycle detonation pressure load and thermal load were measured on a pulse detonation engine principle prototype initialed through deflagration-to-detonation transition for the first time. The structural response characteristics of the detonation chamber were studied based on the measured load under different working frequencies. A series of comparison between numerical simulation and experimental measurement were carried out. The wall thickness of the chamber was designed based on the fatigue load spectrum under real detonation load and the chamber’s target fatigue life. Special attention was paid to the mutual influence between the dynamic amplification factor and the wall thickness.