Experimental Study of Instabilities in Hydrogen-Air Fueled Rotating Detonation Combustion Presentation

Conventional gas turbine engines rely on an idealized constant pressure combustion process that in reality produces a pressure decrease as a result of viscous and other non-reversible losses. An alternative approach is rotating detonation combustion (RDC) which is a form of pressure gain combustion in which one or more detonation waves propagate an annular channel resulting in an increase in pressure across, subsequently providing greater work availability compared to deflagration ultimately leading to opportunities for greater thermodynamic efficiency when used in gas turbine engines that conventionally relies on constant. Modern gas turbine engines often rely on pre-mixed reactants to limit NOx emissions, although this may result in greater susceptibility to instabilities such as flashback and thermoacoustic oscillation, particularly for applications that utilize hydrogen as the fuel. Research in RDC has focused on non-premixed reactants thus limiting the occurrence of flashback, and high frequency detonation wave propagation (kHz) may interfere with the occurrence of thermoacoustic oscillations. Thermal NOx emissions are controlled through rapid combustion and sudden expansion of the working fluid. Although RDC may not be susceptible to instabilities encountered in conventional state of the art gas turbine engine combustion, there may be other mechanisms occurring that support instabilities that could be detrimental to performance.