Pulse Detonation Engines: Initiation, Propagation, and Performance

Research carried out from 2003-2005 at the Explosion Dynamics Laboratories at Caltech under an ONR contract has examined many issues critical to Pulse Detonation Engine (PDE) development. These include: detonation structure imaging using OH PLIF; a narrow channel facility for examining regular and irregular detonations; detonation diffraction; mechanism of soot track generation; fundamental and applied studies of detonation initiation; direct measurements and analytical modeling of impulse from a detonation tube, including the effects of partial fill and nozzles; models of detonation engine performance; thermodynamic analysis of unsteady and steady propulsion systems. Each of these aspects of our program is discussed and key results are presented.