Reduced-Order Model for Performance Simulation and Conceptual Design of Rocket-Type Pulse Detonation Engines

A model-based method has been developed for the performance simulation and conceptual design of rocket-type pulse detonation engines (PDEs). A reduced-order model (ROM) has been generated based on the high order singular value decomposition of a data tensor obtained from CFD computations. This ROM could be used to solve the direct (performance) and inverse (design) problems in the context of the early phases of pulse detonation engine design. Output performance parameters are predicted from prescribed input operation/geometry parameters in the direct problem, and vice versa in the inverse problem. The focus of this method is industrial application in situations where large parametric searches are to be performed with a reasonable level of fidelity at a low computational cost. It was found that the performance and conceptual design tool thus developed provides results that deviate, on average, by less than 10% from the CFD results. Regarding practical implementation, the method allows for shifting the heavier computational load off-line. In this way, when working on-line, the user can obtain results in less than a second for every single case. The main contribution of this study is showing that a model-based approach that combines CFD and tensor decomposition has the potential to extract a maximum of information from a given computational effort. This characteristic makes the method of interest for early design phases in the aerospace industry.