Experimental investigations on effect of kerosene temperature on specific impulse of a pulse detonation rocket engine (PDRE)

The introduction of the full paper discusses some recent relevant papers in the open literature, including some authored by us at NWPU, and then proposes the experimental investigations mentioned in the title, which are explained in sections 1 and 2. Section 1 briefly explains the experimental setup (Fig. 1) we have used for several years, Sections 2 is entitled "Experimental Results and their Analysis". Subsections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 are respectively entitled "Analysis of Variation of Mass Flow with Temperature"(2.1), "Initiation of Detonation"(2.2), "Analysis of Variation of Thrust with Temperature"(2.3), "Analysis of Variation of Specific Impulse of Mixture (Kerosene/Oxygen) with Temperature"(2.4). The experimental results, presented in Fig. 3 and Figs. 6 through 9, and their analysis show preliminarily that: (1) as the fuel temperature increased, the mass flow rate increased first and then decreased; (2) the thrust augmented with the heated fuel temperature; (3) the specific impulse augmented as the kerosene temperature exceeded 50°C; (4) when the mass flow rate was kept constant, the specific impulse increased with the heated fuel temperature; (5) as the kerosene temperature rose up to 200°C, the kerosene could reach the flash vaporization state when it was ejected into the engine and the performance parameter would be closer to the theoretical value.