Experimental studies on a liquid fuelled medium scaled valved pulsejet

Abstract

A pulsejet is a simple propulsive device where the combustion occurs in pulses and the propulsive effort is achieved from the reaction to the rearward flow of hot gases. Pulsejets offer a compelling alternative for small scale propulsion requirements. In this work a valved pulsejet configuration popularly known as dynajet was investigated using different fuels and thermal barrier coatings for the valves to assess its performance and improve its durability. Successful sustained pulsations were obtained with three liquid fuels namely petrol, methanol and a mixture of methanol and nitro methane. The effort included measurement of thrust, fuel consumption and temperature. The effect of using a zirconia based thermal barrier coatings on the valves to improve the valve life was also investigated. It was observed that among the fuels investigated petrol gave the best specific impulse and further the thermal barrier coatings had a negligible impact on extending the valve life