Air-breathing pulsed detonation thrust module: Numerical simulations and firing tests

Abstract The air-breathing pulsed detonation thrust module (TM) for an aircraft designed for a subsonic flight at a speed of up to 120 m/s when operating on a standard aviation kerosene was developed using the analytical estimates and parametric multivariant three-dimensional (3D) calculations. The TM consists of an air intake with a check valve, a fuel supply system, a prechamber-jet ignition system and a combustion chamber with an attached detonation tube. An experimental sample of TM was fabricated, and its firing tests were carried out on a test rig with a thrust-measuring table. In firing tests, TM characteristics are obtained in the form of dependencies of effective thrust, aerodynamic drag and fuel-based specific impulse on fuel consumption at different speeds of the approaching air flow. It has been experimentally shown that the fuel-based specific impulse of the TM reaches 1000-1200 s, and the effective thrust developed by it reaches 180–200 N.