Three - dimensional numerical simulations of the combustion chamber of the rotating detonation engine

Abstract

From 2010 Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) and Institute of Aviation (IoA) jointly implement the project under the Innovative Economy Operational Programme entitled ‘Turbine engine with detonation combustion chamber’. The goal of the project is to replace the combustion chamber of turboshaft engine GTD-350 with an annular detonation chamber. During the project, the numerical group that aims to develop computer code allowing researchers to simulate investigated processes has been established. Simulations provide wide range of parameters that are hardly available from experimental results and enable better understanding of investigated processes. Simulations may be also considered as a cheap alternative for experiments, especially when testing geometrical optimizations. In this paper the analysis of simulation results of the combustion chamber of the Rotating Detonation Engine (RDE) investigated at the IoA in Warsaw is presented. Primarily, REFLOPS USG which has become a fundamental numerical tool in the research of the RDE at the IoA is briefly described and governing equations and numerical methods used are shortly presented. Some aspects of numerical simulations of the RDE, related to selection of combustion mechanism, and an initiation of rotating detonation are provided. Secondly, results of simulations of inviscid gas with numerical injectors of hydrogen are compared with available experimental results. Three different wave patterns are identified in numerical solution and briefly described. Results of simulations are compared to experimental results in combustion chamber. Results presented in this paper are part of the project UDA-POIG.01.03.01-14-071 ‘Turbine engine with detonation combustion chamber’ supported by EU and Ministry of Regional Development, Poland