Numerical research on two-phase kerosene/air rotating detonation engines

The present paper numerically investigates the propagation and propulsive performance of an ideal three-dimensional gas-liquid two-phase kerosene/air rotating detonation engine. The Euler-Euler model is used to model the multiphase process that occurs in the two-phase rotating detonation engines. A two-step kerosene/air reaction model is employed. The effects of injection total temperature and droplet radius are discussed. The numerical results indicate increasing the injection total temperature can promote the two-phase rotating detonation. Specifically, the detonation velocity is improved and the droplet radius range that can obtain rotating detonation waves is broadened. The instability of the two-phase rotating detonation wave is prominent. The stratification of the fresh mixture layer is observed where the upper layer is mainly fuel vapor and the lower layer is mainly fuel droplets. The stratification of the fresh mixture layer results in the stratification of the detonation front thickness. Thus the detonation front tends to tilt forward, which aggravates the instability of the rotating detonation wave. The simulated two-phase detonation velocity agrees well with the experimental results. The overall detonation velocity decreases with the increase of droplet radius. The fuel-based specific impulse decreases with the increase of the droplets radius and injection total temperature. The total pressure gain performance and the average detonation pressure decrease with a higher injection total temperature, which implies a higher injection total temperature can damage the self-pressurization ability of rotating detonation engines.

Automated summary

This paper numerically investigates the propagation and propulsive performance of a three-dimensional gas-liquid two-phase kerosene/air rotating detonation engine. The effects of injection total temperature and droplet radius are discussed, and it is found that increasing the injection total temperature promotes the rotating detonation while increasing the droplet radius decreases the overall detonation velocity and fuel-based specific impulse. The study highlights the importance of maintaining stability in rotating detonation engines, as higher injection total temperature can damage their self-pressurization ability.