Adam Okninski, Jan Kindracki and Piotr Wolanski
Today’s modern liquid propellant rocket engines have a very complicated structure. They cannot be arbitrarily downsized, ensuring efficient propellants’ mixing and combustion…
Abstract
Purpose
Today’s modern liquid propellant rocket engines have a very complicated structure. They cannot be arbitrarily downsized, ensuring efficient propellants’ mixing and combustion. Moreover, the thermodynamic cycle’s efficiency is relatively low. Utilizing detonation instead of deflagration could lead to a significant reduction of engine chamber dimensions and mass. Nowadays, laboratory research is conducted in the field of rotating detonation engine (RDE) testing worldwide. The aim of this paper is to cover the design of a flight demonstrator utilizing rocket RDE technology.
Design/methodology/approach
It presents the key project iterations made during the design of the gaseous oxygen and methane-propelled rocket. One of the main goals was to develop a rocket that could be fully recoverable. The recovery module uses a parachute assembly. The paper describes the rocket’s main subsystems. Moreover, vehicle visualizations are presented. Simple performance estimations are also shown.
Findings
This paper shows that the development of a small, open-structure, rocket RDE-powered vehicle is feasible.
Research limitations/implications
Flight propulsion system experimentation is on-going. However, first tests were conducted with lower propellant feeding pressures than required for the first launch.
Practical implications
Importantly, the vehicle can be a test platform for a variety of technologies. The rocket’s possible further development, including educational use, is proposed.
Originality/value
Up-to-date, no information about any flying vehicles using RDE propulsion systems can be found. If successful in-flight experimentation was conducted, it would be a major milestone in the development of next-generation propulsion systems.
Details
Keywords
Explosions are the main type of accident causing casualties in underground coal mines. Little attention has been devoted to investigating the flame propagations for methane‐air…
Abstract
Purpose
Explosions are the main type of accident causing casualties in underground coal mines. Little attention has been devoted to investigating the flame propagations for methane‐air explosion in a tunnel with full scale. This paper seeks to address this topic.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the numerical simulation and the analysis, the propagation rule of flame and temperature waves inside and outside the space occupied by methane/air mixture at the various concentrations in a tunnel were obtained in this work.
Findings
The original interface of methane‐air mixture and air moves forward in the explosion and the original mixture area extends. For the methane‐air mixture with rich fuel concentration, the flame speed increases with distance within a range beyond the original position of the interface between the mixture and air. The flame speed reaches maximum value outside the original area of methane‐air mixture with rich fuel concentration.
Originality/value
Based on the numerical simulation and the analysis, the propagation rule of flame and temperature wave inside and outside the space occupied by methane/air mixture at the various concentrations in a tunnel were obtained.