Energy efficiency of a continuous-detonation combustion chamber

Systematic experimental and computational studies of the energy efficiency of continuous-detonation combustors (CDCs) have been performed. A small-size and a large-size CDCs using hydrogen as fuel and oxygen or air as oxidizer have been developed and tested. It was first experimentally proved that the Zel’dovich thermodynamic cycle with continuous-detonation combustion of a hydrogen-oxygen mixture in an annular combustor is more efficient than the Brayton thermodynamic cycle with continuous combustion of the mixture, other things being equal. The specific impulse of a small-size bench-scale rocket engine with a 50 mm diameter CDC operating in the continuous-detonation mode was 6–7% higher than that in the continuous combustion mode of operation. The measured fuel-based specific impulse for the large-size CDC of 406 mm diameter running on a hydrogen-air mixture was at a level of 3000 s. Three-dimensional calculations to optimize the structure and operation mode of the large-size CDC have shown that when running on a combustible mixture with a nearly stoichiometric overall composition, the specific impulse can be increased to ≈4200 s.