Experimental investigation on a kerosene/air air-breathing pulse detonation engine

This paper focuses on investigating the ignition and detonation-initiation performance of kerosene/air based on an air-breathing two-phase valveless pulse detonation engine (PDE) with inner diameter of 50 mm. A flash vaporization system was used to heat the kerosene and to observe the effect of fuel temperature on ignition-detonation performance of PDE. And the centrifugal nozzle and air-assisted atomizer were used to investigate the fuel droplet size effect on detonation-initiation performance. The results indicated that increasing ignition energy and fuel temperature were helpful for quick ignition and flame acceleration although detonation didn't occur when the centrifugal nozzle was used. When air-assisted atomizer was used, detonation was initiated successfully no matter the fuel was heated or not. However, the ignition-detonation time of kerosene/air in air-breathing PDE at several operation frequencies was longer than that of gasoline/air respectively.