Study on Effect of Obstacle Shapes on Filling Process in Pulse Detonation Rocket Engine

In order to explore the influence of obstacle shapes on the filling process of pulse detonation rocket engine under valveless self-adaptive working mode, the numerical simulations of two-phase single filling process and multi-cycle experiment were carried out, in which gasoline was utilized as fuel, and oxygen-enriched air as oxidizer. The effects of four kinds of obstacles with different shapes on the filling process of PDRE were studied. The results showed that the existence of obstacles blocks the filling of fuel into the tail of detonation tube, resulting in a great non-uniformity of filling results in the axial and radial directions. Fuel droplets collect near the head and wall of detonation tube, and droplets are seriously blocked by orifice plates. The detonation initiation and stable propagation can be achieved by Shchelkin spirals, annular grooves and spiraling grooves, while the detonation initiation cannot be achieved by orifice plates.