Response of a Liquid Jet in a Multiple-Detonation Driven Crossflow

A bench-scale experiment was developed to investigate the response of a liquid injector site to the passage of multiple-detonation-type events with application to rotating detonation engines. The experimental apparatus consisted of two detonation channels providing sequential steep-fronted pressure waves perpendicular to the site of a plain orifice water injector. Detonation events were developed using a branched predetonator with ethylene and oxygen as propellants. The experiment was mounted within a pressure vessel for operation at both 1 and 10 bar chamber pressures. The effect of various injector geometries, chamber pressures, and detonation elevations from the injector were studied. Backlit high-speed videos provided insight into the transient response and breakup of the jet, and data were correlated based on jet-to-crossflow momentum ratios. High-frequency pressure measurements at the injector face provided the basis for a simple analysis for predicting recovery behavior using known parameters.