Numerical study of continuously rotating detonation in two-fuel gaseous mixture

Numerical simulation of continuously rotating detonations of stoichiometric two-fuel mixture with air has been carried out for the cylindrical annular detonation chamber (DC) of the rocket-type engine. The syngas (1-α)СO+αH2, a binary mixture of hydrogen H2 and carbon monoxide CO, is taken. We studied the global flow structure in DC, and the detailed structure of the transverse wave (TW) front in the continuous rotating regime. Integral characteristics of the detonation process − the distribution of average values of static and total pressure along the length of the DC, and the value of specific impulse have been obtained. The region of existence of stable continuous detonation regime in coordinates of the stagnation pressure - temperature in injection manifold (receiver) and the geometric limit of stable TW have been determined.

Polyethylene Pyrolysis Products: Their Detonability in Air and Applicability to Solid-Fuel Detonation Ramjets

The detonability of polyethylene pyrolysis products (pyrogas) in mixtures with air is determined for the first time in a standard pulsed detonation tube based on the measured values of deflagration-to-detonation transition run-up time. The pyrogas is continuously produced in a gas generator at decomposition temperatures ranging from 650 to 850 °C. Chromatographic analysis shows that at a high decomposition temperature (850 °C) pyrogas consists mainly of hydrogen, methane, ethylene, and ethane, and has a molecular mass of about 10 g/mol, whereas at a low decomposition temperature (650 °C), it mainly consists of ethylene, ethane, methane, hydrogen, propane, and higher hydrocarbons, and has a molecular mass of 24–27 g/mol. In a pulsed detonation mode, the air mixtures of pyrogas with the fuel-to-air equivalence ratio ranging from 0.6 to 1.6 at normal pressure are shown to exhibit the detonability close to that of the homogeneous air mixtures of ethylene and propylene. On the one hand, this indicates a high explosion hazard of pyrogas, which can be formed, e.g., in industrial and household fires. On the other hand, pyrogas can be considered as a promising fuel for advanced propulsion powerplants utilizing the thermodynamic Zel’dovich cycle with detonative combustion, e.g., solid-fuel detonation ramjets. In view of it, the novel conceptual design of the dual-duct detonation ramjet demonstrator intended for operation on pyrogas at the cruising flight speed of Mach 2 at sea level has been developed. The ramjet demonstrator has been manufactured and preliminarily tested in a pulsed wind tunnel at Mach 1.5 and 2 conditions. In the test fires, a short-term onset of continuous detonation of ethylene was registered at both Mach numbers.

DEFLAGRATION-TO-DETONATION TRANSITION IN A STRATIFIED SYSTEM “GASEOUS OXYGEN-LIQUID FILM OF N-DECANE”

Deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) in the system “gaseous oxygen- liquid film of n-decane” ' with a weak ignition source was obtained experimentally. In a series of experiments with ignition by an exploding wire that generates a weak primary shock wave (SW) with a Mach number ranging from 1.03 to 1.4, the DDT with the detonation run-up distances 1 to 4 m from the ignition source and run-up time 3 ms to 1.7 s after ignition was observed in a straight smooth channel of rectangular 54 x 24-millimeter cross section, 3 and 6 m in length with one open end. The DDT is obtained for relatively thick films with a thickness of 0. 3-0.5 mm, which corresponds to very high values of the overall fuel-to-oxygen equivalence ratios of 20-40. The registered velocity of the detonation wave (DW) was 1400-1700 m/s. In a number of experiments, a high-velocity quasi-stationary detonation-like combustion front was recorded running at an average velocity of 700-1100 m/s. Its structure includes the leading SW followed by the reaction zone with a time delay of 90 to 190 s. The obtained results are important for the organization of the operation process in advanced continuous-detonation and pulsed-detonation combustors of rocket and air-breathing engines with the supply of liquid fuel in the form of a wall film.

SPECIFIC IMPULSES FOR CONTINUOUS DETONATION OF METHANE/HYDROGEN-AIR MIXTURES

Regimes of continuous spin detonation (CSD) with transverse detonation waves (TDWs) are obtained in a flow-type annular cylindrical combustor DK-500 for fuel-air mixtures (FAMs) with two compositions of the binary fuel CH4 + 8H2 and CH4 +4H2. Regimes of continuous multifront detonation (CMD) with colliding TDWs are obtained for the FAM with the CH4 + 2H2 binary fuel. These regimes are characterized by significant irregularity of the TDW structure and by a comparatively low TDW velocity. Specific impulses in continuous detonation are determined and analyzed for different compositions of the methane/hydrogen binary fuel. The maximum measured values of the specific impulse at the combustor exit are approximately 3800 s in CSD of CH4 + 8H2 and CH4 + 4H2, 3200 s in CMD of CH4 + 2H2, and 1600 s in combustion of CH4 + H2.