THIS PROGRAM IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE VALIDITY OF A RESULT OBTAINED IN SIMPLIFIED THERMODYNAMIC CYCLE ANALYSIS WHICH INDICATED THAT MAJOR GAINS IN EFFICIENCY COULD BE ACHIEVED IF GAS TURBINES RELEASED HEAT IN DETONATION WAVES RATHER THAN IN CONVENTIONAL

THIS PROGRAM IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE VALIDITY OF A RESULT OBTAINED IN SIMPLIFIED THERMODYNAMIC CYCLE ANALYSIS WHICH INDICATED THAT MAJOR GAINS IN EFFICIENCY COULD BE ACHIEVED IF GAS TURBINES RELEASED HEAT IN DETONATION WAVES RATHER THAN IN CONVENTIONAL COMBUSTORS. A PARAMETRIC STUDY SHOWED THAT A DETONATION AUGMENTED TURBINE WITH A COMPRESSOR PRESSURE RATION OF 5 MATCHED THE EFFICIENCY OF A BRAYTON CYCLE WITH A PRESSURE RATIO OF 20. THE CONCEPT TAKES AIR THE COMPRESSOR AND EXPANDS IT TO SUPERSONIC SPEEDS IN A CONVERGENT-DIVERGENT NOZZLE. A DETONATION WAVE FORMS AT A LOCATION WHOSE MACH NUMBER MATCHES THE WAVE CONDITIONS. HEATRELEASE IS ACCOMPANIED BY A SHARP RISE IN PRESSURE WHICH MAKES THE EXPANSION RATION FAR GREATER THAN THE COMPRESSION RATIO. A GENERAL COMPUTER CODE IS DEVELOPED FOR CONDUCTING COMPREHENSIVE PARAMETRIC STUDIES THAT WILL DETERMINE OPTIMUMCOMBINATIONS OF PARAMETERS, OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS, AND OFF-DESIGN PERFORMANCE. A PRLIMINARY DESIGN OF A PROTOTYPE IS DEVELOPED FOR FABRICATION AND TESTING IN PHASE II.