DEMONSTRATION OF THE OBLIQUE DETONATION WAVE FOR HYPERSONIC PROPULSION

THE OBLIQUE DETONATION WAVE ENGINE (ODWE) IS A CANDIDATE ALTERNATIVE TO THE SUPERSONIC COMBUSTION RAMJET (SCRAMJET) FOR HYPERSONIC AEROPROPULSION. THE POTENTIAL ADVANTAGES OF THE ODWE OVER THE SCRAMJET INCLUDE: LOWER DIFFUSER TEMPERATURES AND PRESSURES, WITH CORRESPONDINGLY LOWER FLOW DECELERATION LOSSES; RELATIVELY UNIFORM STEADY COMBUSTION WITHIN A SMALLER LENGTH AND VOLUME; AND LESSER COOLING REQUIREMENTS. IN SPITE OF THESE POTENTIAL ADVANTAGES, THERE HAS TO DATE BEEN NO EXPERIMENT DEMONSTRATING THE STABILITY OF AN OBLIQUE DETONATION WAVE (ODW). THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAM IS TO OBTAIN DATA ON THE STABILITY OF THE ODW, AND TO ASSESS THE APPLICABILITY OF THE ODW TO HYPERSONIC PROPULSION. THE PROPOSED PROGRAM CONSISTS OF COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMIC (CFD) ANALYSES OF THE ODW FOLLOWED BY AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE SUSTAINED, STABLE ODW IN A CONFIGURATION SIMILAR TO THE "RAM CANNON," IN WHICH A PROJECTILE IS FIRED INTO A TUBE FILLED WITH A COMBUSTIBLE GAS MIXTURE. TO OBTAIN A HIGH ENOUGH INITIAL VELOCITY TO INITIATE THE ODW, THE PROJECTILE WILL BE ACCELERATED BY THE "WAVE GUN," A TWOSTAGE HYPERVELOCITY LIGHT GAS GUN, TO VELOCITIES GREATER THAN 2 KM/SEC. THE RESULTING FLOW CONDITIONS WILL PRODUCE THE ODW, AS DISTINCT FROM THE THERMALLY CHOKED SUBSONIC COMBUSTION EXPERIENCED IN "RAM CANNON" TESTING TO DATE.