Numerical Modeling of the RDE

Abstract

Abstract The idea of using the phenomenon of rotating detonation to propulsion has its roots in fifties of the last century in works of Adamson et al. and Nicholls et al. at the University of Michigan. The idea was recently reinvented and experimental research and numerical simulations on the Rotating Detonation Engine (RDE) are carried in numerous institutions worldwide, in Poland at Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) since 2004. Over the period 2010-2014 WUT and Institute of Aviation (IOA) jointly implemented the project under the Innovative Economy Operational Programme entitled ‘Turbine engine with detonation combustion chamber’. The goal of the project was to replace the combustion chamber of turboshaft engine GTD-350 with the annular detonation chamber. This paper is focused on investigation of the influence of a geometry and flow conditions on the structure and propagation stability of the rotating detonation wave. Presented results are in majority an outcome of the aforementioned programme, in particular authors’ works on the development of the in-house code REFLOPS USG and its application to simulation of the rotating detonation propagation in the RDE.