AIAA 2003-1171
Reactive Flow Phenomena in
Pulse Detonation Engines
X. He and A. R. Karagozian
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA
41st AIAA Aerospace Sciences
Meeting and Exhibit
6–9 January 2003
Reno, Nevada
For permission to copy or to republish, contact the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Suite 500, Reston, VA, 20191-4344.
AIAA–2003–1171
REACTIVE FLOW PHENOMENA IN
PULSE DETONATION ENGINES
X. He ∗ and A. R. Karagozian †
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1597 ‡
Abstract
the thrust wall (Figures 1ef), allowing reactants to
be drawn into the tube, and propagation of the expansion fan out of the tube (Figures 1gh), with simultaneous reflection of a compressive disturbance
into the tube (Figures 1hij), which reflects from
the thrust wall, ignites the fresh reactants, and reinitiates the cycle. Because the PDE concept holds
promise for high thrust density in a constant volume device requiring little or no rotating machinery,
a number of groups have been exploring PDEs for
propulsion applications. This exploration has built
1–4
on fundamental PDE work over several decades ,
so that modern experimental diagnostic as well as
computational methods may be used to bring about
2, 4–6
.
significant advances in the state of the art
Performance parameters commonly used to characterize the pulse detonation engine include the impulse, I, typically defined as
∞
I≡A
∆ptw (t)dt
(1)
This paper describes one- and two-dimensional
numerical simulations, with simplified as well as
full reaction kinetics, of a single cycle pulse detonation engine (PDE). Focus of the present studies
is on 1) the presence of a nozzle extension at the
end of the tube, and its effect on performance parameters as well as noise characteristics, 2) critical
“spark ignition” energies associated with the initiation of a detonation in the PDE tube, and 3) quantification of performance parameters associated with
full kinetics simulations of the PDE and comparison of these data sets with available experimental
data. The present simulations demonstrate the ability to predict PDE reactive flow phenomena and associated performance and noise characteristics, and
hence have promise as a predictive tool for the evolution of future PDE designs.
0
Introduction and Background
where A is the area of the thrust wall and ∆ptw (t)
is the time-dependent pressure differential at the
thrust wall. The impulse is usually scaled to produce the engine’s specific impulse, Isp ,
The Pulse Detonation Wave Engine (often called
the Pulse Detonation Engine or PDE) is a device
which allows periodic ignition, propagation, and
transmission of detonation waves within a detonation tube, with associated reflections of expansion
and compression waves which can act in periodic
1, 2
fashion to produce thrust . A summary of the relevant gasdynamics within the PDE tube is shown in
Figure 1. The figure indicates ignition and propagation of the detonation out of the PDE tube (Figures
1a-c), reflection of an expansion fan into the tube
(Figures 1de), reflection of the expansion fan from
Isp ≡
I
ρV g
(2)
where ρ is the initial mass of the reactive gas mixture
in the tube, V is the detonation tube volume (including the nozzle volume, if containing reactants), and
g is the earth’s gravitational acceleration. As an
alternative performance parameter, the fuel-based
specific impulse, Isp,f , is often used:
∗ Graduate
Researcher
Associate Fellow, AIAA. Corresponding author
(ark@seas.ucla.edu).
‡ Copyright (c) 2003 by X. He Published by the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission.
Isp,f ≡
† Professor;
Isp
Yf
(3)
where Yf is the fuel mass fraction present within the
premixed reactants in the tube. Both Isp and Isp,f
1
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
AIAA–2003–1171
are often used to compare performance among different PDE configurations and also to compare PDE
7
performance with that of alternative engine cycles .
PDE tube is designed to operate in a cyclical manner, it is of interest to quantify the required energy
input to be able to repetitively initiate a detonation
front.
Prior computational studies by our group pertain14
ing to detonation phenomena in general and the
15
pulse detonation engine in particular involve both
one- and two-dimensional simulations, employing
16–18
the essentially non-oscillatory or ENO scheme
for spatial integration. An examination of the one14
dimensional overdriven detonation suggests specific requirements for spatial resolution of the detonation front to be able to obtain accurate wave
speeds, peak pressures, and frequencies of detonation oscillation. These ideas are incorporated into
15
1D and 2D simulations of the single cycle PDE
with single step reaction kinetics. The studies suggest that useful performance and noise related estimates may be obtained even from one-dimensional
computations of the pulse detonation wave engine
with simplified reaction kinetics.
The present study focused on using these high
order numerical schemes to study the behavior of
the pulse detonation engine, using simplified as well
as complex reaction kinetics. Special attention was
paid to the PDE’s geometrical, flow, and reaction
characteristics and their influence on performance
parameters as well as noise generation. NASA’s in19
terest in the PDE for advanced vehicle propulsion
is incumbent upon the ability of the engine to efficiently generate thrust without having to pay a
significant penalty in engine noise. While specific
geometries for PDE nozzle extensions may have the
effect of reducing the relative Isp , as suggested in
10
recent experiments , there may be benefits associated with noise reduction.
Overviews of past and ongoing numerical simulations of PDEs are described in recent articles by
2, 8, 9
. Other recent simulations have foKailasanath
cused on various flow and geometrical features of
the PDE, including the effects of nozzles placed
downstream of the detonation tube. Cambier and
4
Tegner , for example, find that the presence of the
nozzle can have a significant effect on the impulse
of a single cycle of the PDE. In 2D axisymmetric
simulations, which employ a second order TVD (total variation diminishing) scheme, they find that increasing the ratio of the nozzle exit area to the tube
area can produce monotonic increases in impulse I.
Increasing the nozzle exit area causes a dropoff in Isp
until Aexit /Atube reaches 4.0, since the nozzle volume
increases; for area ratios larger than this value, Isp
is seen to increase, suggesting that the impulse is
increasing faster than the nozzle volume increases,
per equation (2).
In recent PDE experiments with nozzle exten10
sions, Johnson observes a decrease in the fuel
specific impulse for converging-diverging nozzles as
compared with straight nozzles or converging nozzles. Similarly, tests as well as modeling by Cooper
6
and Shepherd suggest that the relative impulse of a
PDE tube with a flared nozzle is lower than that for a
straight nozzle at a given fill fraction (or percentage
of the PDE tube initially filled with reactants). It is
of interest to understand the mechanisms whereby
nozzles can increase or decrease PDE performance
and what the associated changes in engine noise levels may be.
Another issue of interest with respect to the successful performance of the pulse detonation engine
is quantification of the required energy input needed
to ignite and sustain a propagating detonation wave
from the closed end of the tube. Thermally initiated detonations via the deflagration-to-detonation
transition (DDT) have been examined over many
11–13
. When a mixture of reactants is ignited
years
by a bulk power deposition of limited duration, a
sequence of events is initiated which eventually results in a sudden power burst or “explosion in the
explosion”, accelerating the flame front and leading
to formation of a propagating detonation. Since the
Problem Formulation and Numerical Methodology
The equations of mass, momentum, energy, and
species conservation were solved in both one and two
spatial dimensions, assuming inviscid flow. Single
step reaction kinetics for CH4 − O2 and H2 − O2 ,
15
as outlined in detail in He and Karagozian , as well
as full reaction kinetics for mixtures of H2 − O2 ,
H2 −O2 −Ar, and H2 −O2 −N2 were employed. Both
straight PDE tubes and tubes with nozzle extensions
were explored. In the 1D simulations, the computational domain consisted primarily of the detonation tube or tube and nozzle (containing at least
2
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
AIAA–2003–1171
600 grid points), with only a few grid points extending beyond the tube end in order to capture
the external pressure. In the 2D simulations, the
air external to the detonation tube was assumed to
be uniformly at atmospheric pressure, and the computational domain extended well downstream of the
end of the tube, in general at least one and one half
tube lengths downstream and at least two tube diameters away from the detonation tube in the dimension perpendicular to the axial dimension. The
effects of employing a 1D pressure relaxation length
9
(PRL), as done by Kailasanath and Patnaik , were
15
explored in our prior PDE study , but for most of
the conditions examined, a relaxation length was not
needed in order to obtain equivalent results between
1D and 2D simulations.
In cases where alternative nozzle geometries were
considered, a locally 1D flow approximation was employed to represent nozzle shapes of slowly varying cross-sectional areas A(x). In this quasi-onedimensional case, with a single step reaction, for
example, the governing equations reduce to the following form:
reaction-rate multiplier for the reaction source term.
Through equation (4) it became possible, in an approximate way, to represent the effects of nozzle geometry in 1D PDE simulations.
Four different nozzle extension shapes were explored here; these are shown in Figure 2. The nozzle
shapes included a fifth order polynomial (configuration 1), a flared divergent section (configuration 2), a
nozzle section with a constant conical divergence angle (configuration 3), and a straight tube (configuration 4). In the simulations of PDEs with nozzles, the
straight portion of the PDE tube, of length L, was
assumed to be initially filled with reactants, while
the nozzle section, of length Ln , was filled with inert
gas (for a single step reaction, effectively products).
In the simulations of straight PDE tubes without a
nozzle, the tube was assumed to be initially filled
completely with reactants. Unless otherwise stated,
the straight tube lengths L used in the present computations were 1 m, and the nozzle lengths Ln were
also 1 m.
For the simulations involving complex reaction kinetics, the equations (5) - (7) were replaced by relations for the straight PDE tube (with A(x) constant)
but with N − 1 species equations for the N species
involved in the reactions. Full kinetics simulations of
the combustion reactions for H2 − O2 , H2 − O2 − Ar,
and H2 − O2 − N2 (representing hydrogen-air) were
considered here; the latter mechanism contained 23
elementary reactions and was part of the CHEMKIN
20
II library .
∂
∂
1 dA
(H − F ) + S
(4)
U+
F =
∂t
∂x
A dx
where the vectors containing conserved variables,
flux terms, and source terms are:
ρ
ρu
2
= ρu F = ρu + p
U
E
(E + p)u
ρY
ρuY
0
0
0
=
= p S
H
0
0
TA
−
0
−KρY e T
(5)
15
As in He and Karagozian , the present study used
the Weighted Essentially Non-Oscillatory (WENO)
21
16–18
method , a derivative of the ENO method
for
spatial interpolation of the system of governing
equations. The WENO scheme was fifth order accurate in smooth regions and third order accurate
in the vicinity of discontinuities. The ENO/WENO
schemes were tested on a variety of problems, including shock tubes with open ends, analogous to
15
the exit of the PDE , and that of the classical
14
one-dimensional, overdriven, pulsating detonation .
For the single step kinetics simulations, the third
order total variation diminishing (TVD) RungeKutta method was used for time discretization. For
full kinetics simulations, the method of operator
22
splitting was used, whereby the system of governing equations (including N −1 species equations) was
(6)
Here E may be written
ρ u2 + v 2
p
E=
+
+ ρqY
γ−1
2
(7)
where ρ represents density, p is the static pressure,
u is the x-component of the velocity vector, and γ
is the ratio of specific heats. q is a heat release
parameter which characterizes the amount of energy released during the reaction, and TA represents
the activation temperature. Y is the reactant mass
fraction, which varies from 0 to 1, while K is the
3
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
AIAA–2003–1171
split into two separate equations, one which only
included the advection-diffusion terms (solved via
WENO) and one which only included the reaction
rate source terms. A stiff ODE solver, DVODE (a
23
variation of VODE ) was employed for the solution
of the rate equations; thermodynamic parameters
and rate constants were obtained via the CHEMKIN
20
II subroutine .
A computational “spark” adjacent to the thrust
wall was used to initiate the detonation at the start
of the PDE cycle. This narrow, high pressure, high
temperature region (3 grid cells in width) was able to
initiate a propagating shock and ignite the reactants;
the flame front then caught up with the shock, form11–13
,
ing a detonation. As suggested by prior studies
however, such thermal initiation of detonation depends very strongly on the initial rate of deposition of energy in the reactants. This concept was
explored in the present studies by altering the initial temperature and pressure in the computational
“spark” to be able to determine minimum input energy densities leading to detonation initiation.
In addition to the standard performance parameters used to characterize the PDE (I, Isp , and Isp,f ),
the sound pressure level (SPL) at various locations
within and external to the detonation tube was also
15
computed. As done previously , these noise levels
were estimated by examining the Fourier transform
of the time-dependent pressure measured at various
locations within the computational domain. The
SPL was then computed based on peak pressures
in the Fourier spectrum. In most cases these peaks
occurred at the PDE cycle frequency.
1D pressure relaxation length. 1D simulations of
the PDE tube do not precisely replicate the pressure and Mach number evolution at the tube end,
with or without a PRL. Yet the evolution of the
tube’s interior pressure without a PRL is, in most
15
cases previously explored , sufficiently close to that
obtained from the 2D simulations so as to produce
similar PDE performance estimates. This is shown,
for example, in Figure 4, which compares the specific impulse for 2D simulations with that for 1D
simulations, with and without inclusion of a PRL.
Time-series pressure data at specific locations
were used to estimate the noise generated at various points in the flowfield over a single PDE cycle.
Estimates of the sound pressure level were made using both 1D and 2D simulations of the straight PDE
tube with a single step CH4 − O2 reaction. Since
the 1D simulations only resolved the flow within the
PDE tube, comparisons were made only for interior and tube exit noise levels. In all locations for
this case we observed the peak in pressure to appear
close to the frequency associated with the period of
the PDE cycle, roughly 330 Hz. The noise levels at
various tube locations are quantified in Table 1.
Location
2D SPL
1D SPL
Thrust Wall
Mid-tube
Tube end
212 dB
211 dB
202 dB
212 dB
211 dB
203 dB
Table 1. Computed sound pressure level (SPL) at various locations within the tube (thrust wall, center of tube,
and tube end). Results are computed from both 2D and
1D simulations of the CH4 − O2 reaction.
Results
Consistent with the evolution of the pressure field
and the performance parameters (e.g., Figure 4), the
noise levels were nearly the same for 1D as for 2D
simulations. The magnitudes of the noise levels were
24, 25
close to those quantified in PDE experiments
.
The influence of the presence of the nozzle is
shown in Figure 5, where the straight tube (nozzle
configuration 4) had the same length as the tubes
with the divergent nozzles. Again, a CH4 − O2 single step reaction was used in this set of simulations.
Interestingly, the straight tube was observed to produce the highest values of I, Isp , and Isp,f , while the
conical nozzle (configuration 3) produced the lowest values. These findings were generally consistent
An example of the temporal evolution of the pressure distribution along the centerline of a straight
PDE tube, over a single cycle, is shown in Figure
3 for a 2D axisymmetric configuration with a single step methane-oxygen reaction. Here the initiation and propagation of the detonation wave through
the tube (Figures 3ab) and the exit of the shock
from the tube and reflection of the expansion fan
from the exhaust back into the tube (Figures 3cd)
15
are clear. Our prior studies demonstrate that a
1D simulation of this same PDE tube quantitatively
yields a very similar pressure field evolution to that
of the 2D simulation, even without inclusion of a
4
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
AIAA–2003–1171
10
The full kinetics simulations of the reactant-filled,
straight PDE tube without a nozzle allowed a more
detailed examination of the detonation ignition and
propagation process to be made, in addition to more
quantitative comparisons with experimental data.
Figure 7 displays the evolution of the 2D pressure
field associated with the PDE tube and its surroundings, for a full H2 − O2 reaction. As seen in
prior 2D simulations of the PDE but with simplified
15
kinetics , the propagation of the detonation out of
the tube resulted in the propagation of a vortical
structure coincident with the shock and simultaneous reflection of an expansion fan back into the tube.
Increased complexity in the wave structures as compared with that for simplified reaction kinetics was
observed, especially in the propagating shock/vortex
structure downstream of the tube exit.
The influence of the initial pressure and temperature (and resulting energy deposition) on initiation
of a detonation wave was studied using these full
kinetics simulations. Figure 8 shows the centerline
pressure distribution for a 1D, full kinetics simulation of an H2 − O2 − Ar mixture, for different initial
temperatures and pressures in the 3 grid cell-wide
“spark” adjacent to the thrust wall. Critical combinations of temperature and pressure were observed
to be necessary for the classical ZND detonation
structure to evolve; if the initial energy deposition
was too small, a weak shock front did not ignite the
mixture and thus did not transition to a detonation,
as seen by the solid lines in Figures 8ab. Tables 3
and 4, for H2 − O2 − Ar and H2 − O2 − N2 reactions, respectively, quantify the conditions that were
required for ignition of a detonation.
with the observations of Johnson , i.e., that Isp,f
decreased with inclusion of a divergent exit nozzle.
Our results were also consistent with those of Cam4
bier and Tegner , in that Isp decreased for nozzleto-tube area ratios of 4.0 (examined here).
The fact that the straight tube produced the highest thrust (resulting from the highest sustained pressure at the thrust wall) has interesting implications
for PDE noise estimates. Figure 6 shows the results
of taking the Fourier transform of the time dependent pressure within (Figure 6ab) and at the end
(Figure 6c) of the tube/nozzle, for the four different
nozzle configurations explored here. For example, in
the middle of the PDE tube, the straight nozzle case
produced the smallest pressure perturbation at the
PDE cycle frequency, yet at the end of the straight
nozzle, the pressure and hence the SPL were both
larger than those for the other nozzles, albeit at
a higher harmonic (667 Hz) of the PDE cycle frequency (about 333 Hz). This behavior is reflected in
Table 2 for SPL values at various locations.
Location
Thrust wall
Mid-tube
Tube end
Nozzle end
Config. 1 SPL
212
211
205
188
dB
dB
dB
dB
Config. 4 SPL
210
208
202
208
dB
dB
dB
dB
Table 2. Computed sound pressure level at various locations within the tube (thrust wall, center of tube, PDE
tube end) and at the nozzle exit for two different nozzle configurations (see Figure 2). Results are computed
from quasi 1D simulations of the CH4 − O2 reaction.
The above behavior likely resulted from the weakened downstream-propagating shock that formed in
the divergent nozzles as compared with that for
the straight nozzle. The lower pressure and SPL
in the upstream portions of the straight nozzle
(as compared with the divergent nozzles) possibly
could have resulted from stronger reflected expansion waves that occurred at the contact surface between reactants and air at the start of the nozzle. While there were clear tradeoffs between performance and nozzle exit noise conditions, it is unclear
why the pressure perturbation of the higher harmonic (660 Hz) in the straight nozzle was so much
larger than for the divergent nozzles. This and other
noise related issues require further exploration in the
future.
Temp.
500K
1000K
1500K
2000K
1500K
1500K
1500K
Press.
Energy (erg/cm2 )
3 atm
3 atm
3 atm
3 atm
5 atm
2.5 atm
2.0 atm
5
2.02 × 10
8.06 × 105
9.95 × 105
11.0 × 105
15.3 × 105
8.63 × 105
7.3 × 105
Deton.?
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Table 3. Initial temperatures, pressures, and input
energies for a computational “spark” used to ignite a
H2 − O2 − Ar mixture, and determination of the possibility of detonation ignition.
5
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
AIAA–2003–1171
Temp.
Press.
800K
900K
1000K
1200K
1
1
1
1
atm
atm
atm
atm
Energy (erg/cm2 )
Deton.?
4.54 × 105
4.89 × 105
5.18 × 105
5.64 × 105
No
No
Yes
Yes
Conclusions
High resolution numerical simulations of pulse
detonation engine phenomena revealed useful information that may be used in future PDE designs.
Simulations of the effects of the presence of a divergent nozzle downstream of the PDE tube suggested that, while performance parameters such as
Isp may decrease with increasing nozzle exit area,
the noise generation at the nozzle exit may actually be reduced, and hence these tradeoffs may be
explored through simplified reaction kinetics studies. Simulations of PDE evolution with full chemical kinetics suggested that specific minimum energy
densities were required to enable the initiation of a
detonation, and hence to sustain the PDE cycle. Finally, it was observed that full kinetics simulations
were able to capture quantitatively the physical phenomena and corresponding performance parameters
for the PDE. Future studies will continue with this
quantitative comparison as well as noise generation
issues relevant to the PDE.
Table 4. Initial temperatures, pressures, and input
energies for a computational “spark” used to ignite a
H2 − O2 − N2 mixture, and determination of the possibility of detonation ignition.
As expected, the critical input energies for ignition
of a detonation were found to be different for these
different reactions. In the case of H2 − O2 − N2 ,
a critical energy deposition per unit area of about
5×105 erg/cm2 was required for detonation, whereas
for the case of H2 − O2 − Ar, this critical value rose
to about 8.5 × 105 erg/cm2 .
The full kinetics simulations also allowed quantitative comparisons to be made between performance
parameters from the present simulations and those
obtained by experiment (for a single cycle PDE) or
analysis. Table 5 below shows the current estimations of Isp for the PDE for H2 −O2 and H2 −O2 −N2
(hydrogen-air) reactions, as compared with the anal26
ysis and experiments described in Wintenberger
27
28
and the experiments of Zitoun and Schauer .
Study
Isp , H2 -air
Present
26
Wintenberger
26
CIT expts.
27
Zitoun expts.
28
Schauer expts.
128.5 s
123.7 s
–
149 s
113 s
Acknowledgments
This work has been supported at UCLA by NASA
Dryden Flight Research Center under Grant NCC4153, with Dr. Trong Bui and Dave Lux as technical
monitors, and by the Office of Naval Research under Grant ONR N00014-97-1-0027, with Dr. Wen
Masters as technical monitor.
Isp , H2 − O2
240
173
200
226
–
s
s
s
s
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Table 5. Comparison of specific impulse for single cycle
PDE between the present simulations and corresponding
experiments and modeling efforts, as noted.
While the present simulations appeared quantitatively to replicate the experimentally observed performance parameters reasonably well, detailed comparisons of the pressure field evolution and noise estimates require further examination and are the subject of continued studies.
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[24] Schauer, F., private communication.
detonation front
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a)
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Pulse Detonation Engine”, AIAA Paper 20013811, July, 2001.
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b)
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products
reactants
detonation
c)
[28] Schauer, F., Stutrud, J., and Bradley, R., “Detonation Initiation Studies and Performance Results for Pulsed Detonation Engines”, AIAA
Paper no. 2001-1129, 2001.
products
reflected expansion wave
d)
products
expansion wave
e)
products
reflected expansion wave
reactants
f)
products
enter
expansion wave
reactants
g)
reflected compression wave
reactants
h)
compression wave
i)
reactants
shock/detonation reflection
j)
reactants
Fig. 1: The generic Pulse Detonation Engine (PDE)
cycle.
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American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
AIAA–2003–1171
30
Pressure (atm)
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
1.5
2
2.5
1.5
2
2.5
1.5
2
2.5
X (m)
(a)
0.5
30
25
Pressure (atm)
Radius (m)
0.4
nozzle 1
nozzle 2
nozzle 3
nozzle 4
0.3
20
15
10
5
0.2
0
0
0.5
1
X (m)
(b)
0.1
30
0
0
0.5
1
1.5
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
0.5
1
X (m)
(c)
30
25
Pressure (atm)
Fig. 2: Different nozzle geometries explores in
present computations. These include straight tubes
(configuration 4), flared divergent sections (configuration 2), divergent sections with inflection (configuration 1), and a nozzle section with a constant
divergence angle (configuration 3). In all case the
reactants are assumed to lie initially upstream of
nozzle, in the constant area tube, while the nozzle
itself contains inert gas.
Pressure (atm)
X (m)
20
15
10
5
0
0
0.5
1
X (m)
(d)
Fig. 3: Evolution of the centerline pressure for a
straight 2D axisymmetric PDE of 1 m length, at
times (a) 0.06 ms, (b) 0.15 ms, (c) 0.49 ms, and (d)
9
2.89 ms.
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
AIAA–2003–1171
Impulse per unit area (ps.s)
2500
2000
1500
nozzle 1
nozzle 2
nozzle 3
nozzle 4
1000
500
350
0
0
0.001
Specific Impulse (sec.)
300
0.002
0.003
0.002
0.003
0.002
0.003
Time (sec.)
2D simulation
1D without pressure relaxation
1D with pressure relaxation
250
250
200
200
Isp (sec.)
150
100
150
100
50
50
0
0
0.001
0.002
0.003
0.004
0
Time (sec.)
0
0.001
Time (sec.)
Fig. 4: Comparisons of time-dependent specific impulse for both 1D and 2D axisymmetric simulations
of the PDE tube with a CH4 − O2 reaction, taken
15
from He and Karagozian . 1D simulations explored
the use of a pressure relaxation length l = 0.5L.
Here the 1D simulations incorporated a computational “spark” consisting of a pressure of 10 atm and
a temperature of 3000K in order to match the initial
conditions for the 2D simulation.
1300
1200
1100
1000
Ispf (sec.)
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0
0.001
Time (sec.)
Fig. 5: Comparisons of time-dependent performance
parameters computed from 1D simulations using different nozzle geometries. Results shown are for impulse I, specific impulse Isp , and fuel specific impulse
Isp,f . The reaction of methane and oxygen was simulated.
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American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
AIAA–2003–1171
7
200
6
150
nozzle 1
nozzle 2
nozzle 3
nozzle 4
4
100
Y (cm)
[P]/P0
5
50
3
0
2
-50
1
0
0
2500
5000
7500
50
10000
100
150
200
Frequency (HZ)
X (cm)
(a)
(a)
250
300
350
4
200
nozzle 1
nozzle 2
nozzle 3
nozzle 4
3.5
3
150
100
Y (cm)
[P]/P0
2.5
2
50
1.5
0
1
-50
0.5
0
0
2500
5000
7500
50
10000
100
150
200
Frequency (HZ)
X (cm)
(b)
(b)
250
300
350
250
300
350
3
200
150
nozzle 1
nozzle 2
nozzle 3
nozzle 4
100
[P]/P0
Y (cm)
2
1
50
0
-50
0
0
2500
5000
7500
50
10000
100
150
200
Frequency (HZ)
X (cm)
(c)
(c)
Fig. 7: Temporal evolution of the 2D planar pressure field within and external to the PDE over one
cycle, with pressure given in units of dyn/cm2 . Data
shown are at times corresponding to (a) 0.15 ms, (b)
0.47 ms, and (c) 1.34 ms. A H2 − O2 reaction was
simulated here with full chemical kinetics.
Fig. 6: Comparisons of pressure spectra: (a) in the
middle of the detonation tube, (b) at the end of the
straight part of the detonation tube, and (c) at the
end of the nozzle. Results are shown for different
nozzle configurations (see Fig. 2).
11
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
9.66811E+06
9.09111E+06
8.51411E+06
7.93711E+06
7.36011E+06
6.78311E+06
6.20611E+06
5.62911E+06
5.05211E+06
4.47511E+06
3.89811E+06
3.32111E+06
2.74411E+06
2.16711E+06
1.59011E+06
AIAA–2003–1171
1.8E+07
Ps = 2.0
Ps = 2.5
Ps = 3.0
Ps = 5.0
1.6E+07
Atm
Atm
Atm
Atm
2
Pressure (dyn/cm )
1.4E+07
1.2E+07
1E+07
8E+06
6E+06
4E+06
2E+06
0
0
10
20
30
40
30
40
X (cm)
(a)
1.8E+07
Ts = 500K
Ts = 1000K
Ts = 1500K
Ts = 2000K
1.6E+07
2
Pressure (dyn/cm )
1.4E+07
1.2E+07
1E+07
8E+06
6E+06
4E+06
2E+06
0
0
10
20
X (cm)
(b)
Fig. 8: Centerline pressure distribution for the H2 −
O2 reaction with full kinetics, for different computational “spark” conditions: (a) fixed temperature
1500K and variable pressure, and (b) fixed pressure
3 atm and variable temperature, each at time 0.2
msec.
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American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics