基于连续旋转爆震的推进技术研究进展

基于爆震燃烧的推进技术是未来空间技术的重要发展趋势,特别是可实现结构简单化设计和高热力学效率.针对火箭式连续旋转爆震发动机、吸气式爆震发动机的实验测试和数值仿真,文章综述了其国内外研究进展,分别总结了不同燃料、燃烧室结构、喷注方式以及工作方式等对连续旋转爆震波的传播规律和发动机的特性影响规律.虽然上述探索性研究得到了诸多有益的结论,但是由于连续旋转爆震燃烧技术涉及的流动、物理化学过程十分复杂,对旋转爆震燃烧的机理研究仍然有待进一步深入开展.      

煤油／空气脉冲爆震发动机激波反射起爆研究

为了研究煤油/空气脉冲爆震发动机爆震室内激波遇到障碍物发生反射促使PDE通常完成爆燃向爆震转变的起爆技术,设计加工了环型孔板和双半V型楔面体,并安装在内径100 mm的爆震管内,进行了多循环爆震试验,成功实现了煤油/空气脉冲爆震发动机工作频率30 Hz稳定工作,获得稳定传播的爆震波.研究结果表明:在爆震室内安装合理结构的障碍物能够有效提高激波反射,缩短爆燃向爆震转变的距离(时间),成功获得稳定传播的爆震波.研究结果为优化设计煤油/空气脉冲爆震发动机原理样机提供了初步理论基础.     

燃烧过程测量、模拟及爆震燃烧技术应用专题序言

爆震燃烧是基本的燃烧模态之一具有极高的强度和极快的燃烧速率以其构建热力循环并将其应用于先进动力装置具有区别于爆燃燃烧过程的显著优势是人们始终追求的梦幻动力.然而也恰恰由于爆震燃烧过程剧烈因此在受限空间内形成稳定、可控、高频率的爆震波成为挑战.在工程上发展稳定的爆震燃烧动力装置需要解决可靠点火起爆、燃料/氧化剂快速掺混、爆震波稳定传播等关键技术难题.近些年连续旋转爆震取得了长足的进展.连续旋转爆震仅需单次成功点火在环形或者圆柱形燃烧室内形成周向传播的爆震波从而使得不断充入燃烧室的未燃混合气快速起爆.基于连续旋转爆震的火箭发动机、冲压发动机甚至连续旋转爆震涡轮发动机都取得了创造性的成绩.尽管在工程化应用的征途上仍然需要解决诸多爆震物理基础问题和关键技术但人们孜孜以求的决心和动力从未泯灭也必将带来颠覆性技术的诞生.     

煤油氧气脉冲爆震火箭发动机爆震特性

脉冲爆震火箭发动机(PDRE)是一种利用脉冲式爆震波产生高温、高压燃气发出的冲量来产生推力的推进系统.与常规液体火箭发动机相比,脉冲爆震火箭发动机具有更高的性能,并且结构更简单.本文以航空煤油为燃料、氧气为氧化剂、压缩氮气为隔离气体,并利用电磁阀控制燃料、氧化剂和隔离气体的间歇式供给.利用低的点火能量(50mJ),在内径50mm,长度1.1m的爆震管内进行了大量的多循环爆震试验,研究煤油氧气电磁阀脉冲爆震火箭发动机的爆震波特性.研究结果为进一步研究气液两相多次爆震燃烧机理提供了依据,为研制工程应用的PDRE提供理论和实践基础.     

超燃冲压发动机推进性能理论分析

超燃冲压发动机的正推力问题和超声速燃烧的稳定性问题是制约超燃冲压发动机发展的两个关键气动物理问题.虽然经过50多年的研究,但是目前国内外对这两个关键问题的机理还没有研究清楚.文章首次将CJ爆轰理论应用于超燃冲压发动机推进性能分析,给出了这两个关键气动问题的理论分析结果.分析结果表明,燃烧室入口空气静温对发动机的推进性能产生重要影响.当爆轰波的爆速大于隔离段内空气来流的速度时,会向隔离段上游传播,导致发动机不起动.飞行Mach数Ma=6~8是超燃发动机的临界不稳定范围,飞行Mach数Ma>9,超声速燃烧将变得稳定.      

斜爆轰发动机流动机理分析

为了研究高Mach数超燃冲压发动机和斜爆轰发动机的内流场燃烧流动机理，首先用CJ爆轰理论对超燃冲压发动机的内流场特性进行了理论分析，给出了燃烧室流场的气动规律，理论分析结果与现有实验结果吻合得非常好.其次，根据理论分析结果，提出了高Mach数超燃冲压发动机和斜爆轰发动机的气动设计原则.最后，根据提出的气动设计原则，设计了高Mach数斜爆轰发动机，飞行Mach数为9，对斜激波诱导燃烧机理开展了二维数值模拟研究.数值模拟结果表明，在高Mach数下，斜爆轰发动机燃烧室内可以得到稳定的燃烧流场.      

进口条件对超燃冲压发动机氢气燃烧流场特性的影响分析

对不同进口条件下的超燃冲压发动机燃烧室内氢气喷流超声速燃烧流动特性进行了数值模拟与分析.宽范围超燃冲压发动机是吸气式高超声速飞行器推进系统设计中的热点问题之一,受实验设备硬件条件及实验技术限制,数值模拟技术仍然是超燃冲压发动机燃烧室内燃气燃烧特性及流场特性的主要研究手段.采用基于混合网格技术的多组元N-S方程有限体积方法求解器,在不同进口Mach数及压强条件下,对带楔板/凹腔结构的燃烧室模型氢气喷流燃烧流场进行了数值模拟,对比分析了氢气喷流穿透深度、喷口前后回流区结构、掺混效率及燃烧效率等流场结构与典型流场参数的变化特性及影响规律.研究成果可为宽范围超燃冲压发动机喷流燃烧流动特性分析提供参考.      

脉冲爆震发动机性能分析

本文发展了一种新的脉冲爆震发动机性能分析模型,考虑了流体阻力和油珠直径对爆震波速度、压力及脉冲爆震发动机比冲的影响。性能分析模型计算结果与试验结果比较表明,当进行了两相流和流体阻力影响修正后,两者较好。     

多循环PDE利用壁温蒸发煤油的试验研究

燃用煤油是脉冲爆震发动机工程化应用研究中亟待解决的一项关键技术.由于煤油的蒸发性差,常温下在空气中很难起爆,为了突破煤油在脉冲爆震发动机中的应用限制,利用爆震室壁面高温蒸发煤油,提高煤油在PDE中的起爆性能.本文利用PDE工作时的壁温和少量来流空气,在PDE管外设计了蒸发器,对供入PDE的煤油实行预蒸发,以提高燃用煤油...     

涡扇-脉冲爆震组合发动机内外涵掺混器研究

在涡扇发动机基础上,以脉冲爆震燃烧室代替普通加力燃烧室构成涡扇-脉冲爆震组合发动机.对该组合动力,涡扇发动机内外涵掺混过程对脉冲爆震燃烧室的进气状况有着重要的影响,本文针对环形混合器和波瓣混合器进行了数值模拟,揭示了两种混合器不同的掺混机理,同时研究了不同穿透率的波瓣混合器对流场的影响.结果表明,相对于环形混合器,采用波瓣混合器能够获得良好的掺混效果和PDE入口温度的提高;但随着穿透率的增加,波瓣混合器总压损失也会增加,同时PDE入口的氧气浓度也有所降低.     

Fluid dynamics of rotating detonation engines with hydrogen and hydrocarbon fuels

Rotating detonation engines (RDE’s) represent a logical step from pulsed detonation engine concepts to a continuous detonation engine concept for obtaining propulsion from the high efficiency detonation cycle. The hydrogen/air and hydrogen/oxygen RDE concepts have been most extensively studied, however, being able to use hydrocarbon fuels is essential for practical RDE’s. The current paper extends our hydrogen/air model to hydrocarbon fuels with both air and pure oxygen as the oxidizer. Before beginning the RDE calculations, several detonation tube results are summarized showing the ability of the code to reproduce the correct detonation velocity and CJ properties. In addition, a calculation capturing the expected irregular detonation cell patterns of ethylene/air is also shown. To do the full range of fuels and oxidizers, we found the use of temperature-dependent thermodynamic properties to be essential, especially for hydrocarbon/oxygen mixtures. The overall results for air-breathing RDE’s with hydrocarbons ranged from 1990 to 2540 s, while in pure oxygen mode the specific impulse varied from 700 to 1070 s. These results were between 85% and 89% of the expected ideal detonation cycle results, and are in line with previous hydrogen/air estimates from our previous work. We conclude from this that hydrocarbon RDE’s are viable and that the basic flow-field patterns and behaviors are very similar to the hydrogen/air cases detailed previously.     

涡轮导向器对旋转爆轰波传播特性影响的实验研究

为了研究涡轮导向器对旋转爆轰波传播特性的影响,以氢气为燃料,空气为氧化剂,在不同当量比下开展了实验研究.基于高频压力传感器及静态压力传感器的信号,详细分析了带涡轮导向器的旋转爆轰燃烧室的工作模式以及涡轮导向器对非均匀不稳定爆轰产物的影响.实验结果表明:在当量比较低时,爆轰燃烧室以快速爆燃模式工作;逐渐增大当量比,爆轰燃烧室开始以不稳定旋转爆轰模式工作;继续增大当量比,爆轰燃烧室以稳定旋转爆轰模式工作,且旋转爆轰波的传播速度和稳定性均随当量比的增大逐渐提高.爆轰波下游的斜激波与涡轮导向器相互作用,涡轮导向器对压力振荡的幅值具有明显的抑制作用,但对压力振荡频率的影响较小.随着当量比的增大,涡轮导向器上下游的静压均同时增大,经过涡轮导向器的作用,涡轮下游静压明显降低.     

Thrust characteristics of an airbreathing pulse detonation engine in flight at mach numbers of 0.4 to 5.0

Multidimensional calculations are performed to demonstrate that, by its characteristics, the pulse detonation engine (PDE) is a unique type of ramjet propulsion system, which can be used in both subsonic and supersonic aircraft. By a number of examples, it is shown that, in various thrust characteristics, such as the specific impulse, specific fuel consumption, and specific thrust, the PDE substantially exceeds ramjet engines.     

Efficiency bounds for nonequilibrium heat engines

We analyze the efficiency of thermal engines (either quantum or classical) working with a single heat reservoir like an atmosphere. The engine first gets an energy intake, which can be done in an arbitrary nonequilibrium way e.g. combustion of fuel. Then the engine performs the work and returns to the initial state. We distinguish two general classes of engines where the working body first equilibrates within itself and then performs the work (ergodic engine) or when it performs the work before equilibrating (non-ergodic engine). We show that in both cases the second law of thermodynamics limits their efficiency. For ergodic engines we find a rigorous upper bound for the efficiency, which is strictly smaller than the equivalent Carnot efficiency. I.e. the Carnot efficiency can be never achieved in single reservoir heat engines. For non-ergodic engines the efficiency can be higher and can exceed the equilibrium Carnot bound. By extending the fundamental thermodynamic relation to nonequilibrium processes, we find a rigorous thermodynamic bound for the efficiency of both ergodic and non-ergodic engines and show that it is given by the relative entropy of the nonequilibrium and initial equilibrium distributions. These results suggest a new general strategy for designing more efficient engines. We illustrate our ideas by using simple examples.     

An engineering method for calculating the parameters and characteristics of pulse detonation engines

Theoretical fundamentals for calculating the thermodynamic cycle of engines with fuel detonation (FD cycle), which is realized in the thrust units of pulse detonation engines (PDE), are presented. A system of equations for calculating the parameters of the detonation waves under various conditions of their initiation is derived. These equations were used to examine how various factors influence the parameters of detonation waves and, consequently, the work of the cycle, thermal efficiency, and the specific parameters of the PDE. It was demonstrated that the maximum thermal efficiency of the FD cycle virtually coincides with the minimum losses caused by the irreversibility of heat input into the detonation wave. It was established that the losses are substantially dependent on the temperature of the working substance (compressed air or heated gas) supplied into the thrust units, more specifically, they decrease with increasing temperature.     

The effects of mixture preburning on detonation wave propagation

Pressure gain combustion in the form of continuous detonations can provide a significant increase in the efficiency of a variety of propulsion and energy conversion devices. In this regard, rotating detonation engines (RDEs) that utilize an azimuthally-moving detonation wave in annular systems are increasingly seen as a viable approach to realizing pressure gain combustion. However, practical RDEs that employ non-premixed fuel and oxidizer injection need to minimize losses through a number of mechanisms, including turbulence-induced shock-front variations, incomplete fuel-air mixing, and premature deflagration. In this study, a canonical stratified detonation configuration is used to understand the impact of preburning on detonation efficiency. It was found that heat release ahead of the detonation wave leads to weaker shock fronts, delayed combustion of partially-oxidized fuel-air mixture, and non-compact heat release. Furthermore, large variations in wave speeds were observed, which is consistent with wave behavior in full-scale RDEs. Peak pressures in the compression region or near triple points were considerably lower than the theoretically-predicted values for ideal detonations. Analysis of the detonation structure indicates that this deflagration process is parasitic in nature, reducing the detonation efficiency but also leading to heat release far behind the wave that cannot directly strengthen the shock wave. This parasitic combustion leads to commensal combustion (heat release far downstream of the wave), indicating that it is the root cause of combustion efficiency losses.     

A mathematical model of Helmholtz resonator type gas oscillation discharges of two-stroke cycle engines

For the example of a one cylinder, 3·7 in³ two-stroke cycle engine, it is shown that combustion engines discharge combusted gas in oscillatory bursts whose primary frequency is independent of engine speed. The superposition of a Helmholtz resonator model and a thermodynamic model of the combustion process is used to predict pressure oscillations and sound radiation. It is shown that the elastic and inertial characteristics of the gas in the combustion chamber and the exhaust port have to be considered in the model. Theoretical and experimental results compare well.