Research Summaries

Back Characterization of a Solid Propellant-Fueled RDE (Solid RDE)

Fiscal Year 2020
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Investigator(s) Brophy, Christopher M.
Sponsor Naval Air Weapons Station-China Lake (Navy)
Summary Rotating detonation engines (RDEs) employ detonative combustion which results in pressure gain across the combustor increasing the systems thermal efficiency and specific thrust for the same inlet conditions and reactants, resulting in a system capable of producing more net work/thrust for the same amount of reactants. RDE fuel consumption rates are approximately 1000x faster than deflagration combustion, enabling ultra-compact combustors and increased power density, and the reduced combustor size also allows for more fuel to be carried, resulting in increased range. Additionally, an RDE-based ramjet and rocket have a lower Mach number takeover than a comparable deflagration-based ramjet cycle, allowing for reduced booster size requirements, which will further increased propellant volume for the air-breathing cycle, resulting in increased range over the their standard counterparts.
Keywords
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Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal