High Fidelity Simulations of a Methane-Oxygen Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine

Prakash, Supraj; Raman, Venkatramanan; Lietz, Christopher; Hargus, William A.; Schumaker, Stephen A.

doi:10.2514/6.2020-0689

High Fidelity Simulations of a Methane-Oxygen Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine

Conference · Sat Jan 04 23:00:00 EST 2020 · AIAA Scitech 2020 Forum

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2020-0689· OSTI ID:1995240

Prakash, Supraj ^[1]; Raman, Venkatramanan ^[2]; Lietz, Christopher ^[3]; Hargus, William A. ^[4]; Schumaker, Stephen A. ^[4]

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; University of Michigan, Aerospace Engineering
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Sierra Lobo, Inc.
Air Force Research Laboratory

The rotating detonation combustor (RDC) is an important realization of pressure gain combustion for practical applications. The RDC system is characterized by a highly unsteady flow field, with multiple reflected pressure waves following the strong detonations and the existence of partially-burnt gases entrained within the detonation annulus during the injector recovery process. While experimental efforts have provided macroscopic properties of an RDC with a given fuel-oxidizer mixture and geometry, limited optical access and reduced lifespan of flow-field diagnostic equipment constrain understanding of the mechanisms that lend to wave stability, controllability, and sustainability. To this end, high-fidelity numerical simulations of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) methane-oxygen rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) are performed to provide detailed insight into the detonation physics and anomalous behavior within the combustor. The results highlight the merit of high-fidelity numerical studies in analyzing the combustion processes and injector dynamics of a complex combustion system. The simulations capture the general wave behavior observed within the experimental studies. Three different operating conditions, with varying global equivalence ratio and system mass flow rate, are considered: (1) baseline configuration, (2) high equivalence ratio, and (3) high mass flow rate. The high mass flow rate case results in increased detonation wave strength whereas the high equivalence ratio results in increased deflagrative heat release. The high equivalence ratio case results in chaotic behavior with two pairs of counter-rotating detonation waves, whereas a single pair of co-rotating waves is observed in the baseline and high mass flow rate cases. Further, parasitic combustion of the reactant mixture ahead of the detonation wave diminishes its strength and reduces propagation speed to approximately 50-60\% of the Chapman-Jouguet (CJ) condition. In this work, a detailed analysis of the detonation wave behavior, injector dynamics, and the statistics of combustion parameters are presented.

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Research Organization:: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)

DOE Contract Number:: FE0031228

OSTI ID:: 1995240

Report Number(s):: DOE-UMICH-FE0031228-011

Journal Information:: AIAA Scitech 2020 Forum, Journal Name: AIAA Scitech 2020 Forum

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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