The influence of plug nozzle and Laval nozzle on the flow field and performance of non-premixed rotating detonation combustor

Abstract

With the rotating detonation engine's (RDE) development to engineering applications, the selection and optimization of nozzle is garnering great concerns, with the aim to maximize the performance benefits of this pressure gain propulsion system. The present study represents the first effort to explore the distinct impacts of two commonly used nozzles in RDE, namely, the plug nozzle and the Laval nozzle, on the internal flow and performance within the combustion chamber. Three-dimensional numerical simulations are conducted on non-premixed annular RDEs with plug nozzles and Laval nozzles. It is found that the Laval nozzle induces a forward-leaning wavefront structure in the combustion chamber. Furthermore, the overall pressure gain of the RDE is divided into the injection pressure loss, the average pressure gain at the chamber bottom, and the flow losses downstream, by combining the wavefront coordinate averaged flow field, which is proposed and applied in this study, and laboratory coordinate averaged flow field. The results show that, for the performance of the combustion chamber, while Laval nozzles enhance pressure gains at the chamber bottom and reduce exit flow non-uniformity, they also increase downstream losses. By comparing the RDE performance with the ideal performance of deflagration-based combustors, it is found that the premixed control group exceeded the deflagration ideal performance by 30%. Despite lower combustion efficiency, non-premixed configurations nearly match the ideal deflagration performance, underscoring the inherent advantages of RDEs.