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Rotating Detonation Engines

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Dr. Vijay Anand

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Guest Editor

Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
Interests: Combustion instabilities; detonation physics; Pressure Gain Combustion; Rotating Detonation Engines; High speed flow

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Guest Editor is inviting submissions to a Special Issue of Energies on the subject area of “Rotating Detonation Engines”. Recent years have witnessed a notable increase in endeavors to investigate unsteady combustion processes that offer a prospective increase in stagnation pressure—and therefore fuel efficiency—due to constrained heat release. One such pressure gain combustion (PGC) concept is the rotating detonation engine (RDE). RDEs make use of one or more detonation waves that travel circumferentially about an annular or hollow combustor at kilohertz frequencies, continually combusting the supplied reactants without the need for more than one initial ignition. Due to its simplicity in design, which can be integrated into existing systems—both propulsion and power generation—and the lack of moving mechanical components, RDEs are at the forefront of PGC research. This Special Issue is oriented towards bringing to the fore the state-of-the-art in RDE research. Topics of interest for this Issue include all areas of research pertinent to RDEs, covering experimental, analytical, and numerical studies.

Dr. Vijay Anand
Guest Editor

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Keywords

Rotating detonation engines
Pressure gain combustion
Detonation physics
Combustion instabilities
Systems integration
Experimental analysis
Numerical simulations.

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22 pages, 4130 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Descending Modal Transition Dynamics in a Large Eddy Simulation of a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine

by Armani Batista, Mathias C. Ross, Christopher Lietz and William A. Hargus, Jr.

Energies 2021, 14(12), 3387; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14123387 - 8 Jun 2021

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2291

Abstract

Rotating detonation rocket engines (RDREs) exhibit various unsteady phenomena, including modal transitions, that significantly affect their operation, performance and stability. The dynamics of the detonation waves are studied during a descending modal transition (DMT) where four co-rotating detonations waves decrease to three in a gaseous methane-oxygen RDRE. Detonation wave tracking is applied to capture, visualize and analyze unsteady, 3D detonation wave dynamics data within the combustion chamber of the RDRE. The mechanism of a descending modal transition is the failure of a detonation wave in the RDRE, and in this study, the failing wave is identified along with its failure time. The regions upstream of each relative detonation show the mixture and flow-field parameters that drive detonation failure. Additionally, it is shown that descending modal transitions encompass multiple phases of detonation decay and recovery with respect to RDREs. The results show high upstream pressure, heat release and temperature, coupled with insufficient propellants, lead to detonation wave failure and non-recovery of the trailing detonation wave during a descending modal transition. Finally, the Wolanski wave stability criterion regarding detonation critical reactant mixing height provides insight into detonation failure or sustainment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rotating Detonation Engines)

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30 pages, 23885 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Performance of a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine with Various Convergent Nozzles and Chamber Lengths

by John W. Bennewitz, Blaine R. Bigler, Mathias C. Ross, Stephen A. Danczyk, William A. Hargus, Jr. and Richard D. Smith

Energies 2021, 14(8), 2037; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082037 - 7 Apr 2021

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3541

Abstract

A rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) with various convergent nozzles and chamber lengths is investigated. Three hundred hot-fire tests are performed using methane and oxygen ranging from equivalence ratio equaling 0.5–2.5 and total propellant flow up to 0.680 kg/s. For the full-length (76.2 [...] Read more.

ϵ_{c}

= 1.23, 1.62 and 2.40 are tested. Detonation is exhibited for each geometry at equivalent conditions, with only fuel-rich operability slightly increased for the

ϵ_{c}

= 1.62 and 2.40 nozzles. Despite this, counter-propagation, i.e., opposing wave sets, becomes prevalent with increasing constriction. This is accompanied by higher number of waves, lower wave speed

U_{wv}

and higher unsteadiness. Therefore, the most constricted nozzle always has the lowest

U_{wv}

. In contrast, engine performance increases with constriction, where thrust and specific impulse linearly increase with

ϵ_{c}

for equivalent conditions, with a 27% maximum increase. Additionally, two half-length (38.1 mm) chambers are studied including a straight chamber and

ϵ_{c}

= 2.40 nozzle; these shortened geometries show equal performance to their longer equivalent. Furthermore, the existence of counter-propagation is minimized. Accompanying high-fidelity simulations and injection recovery analyses describe underlying injection physics driving chamber wave dynamics, suggesting the physical throat/injector interaction influences counter-propagation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rotating Detonation Engines)

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