Propagation stability of rotating detonation waves using hydrogen/oxygen-enriched air mixtures

Abstract

In this study, tests were performed using a newly developed combustion chamber for a rotating detonation engine to study the effects of reactivity of the mixture as related to the cell width and CJ velocity, and the total mass flow on the stability of rotating detonation wave (RDW) propagation. For the reactant mixtures, 2H2 + O2 + ¢N2 was used, where the dilution ratio ¢ was varied from 0 to 3.76 to change the cell width and CJ velocity. The experimental results showed that stable operation was achieved when the average total mass flow rates m_ave were larger than 170, 200, and 350 g/s for ¢ = 1.36, 2.65, and 3.73, respectively, and that the velocity of the RDWs decreased as m_ave decreased. Regardless of the mixture composition, a stable mode was obtained when the height of the reactant mixture normalized by the cell width, h/, was larger than 3. There was a minimum value of m_ave that adjusted h/ to enable the stable propagation of RDWs.