Effect of Aerospike Nozzles on Rotating Detonation Engine Performance for Rocket Applications

摘要

Rotating detonation engines (RDEs) are currently researched as the next step to significantly improve the performance of liquid rocket engine technologies, although few studies have looked at the practical integration of a nozzle. Aerospike nozzles are attractive for RDEs as they integrate well with the annular combustor topology and can compensate for the off-design nozzle pressure ratios delivered by the rotating detonation wave. The NASA Loci/CHEM code was used to computationally assess the performance of an RDE with no nozzle and an aerospike nozzle. The rotating detonation wave caused transient flow dynamics that enhanced the base drag of the nozzle-less geometry and reduced the pressure compensation of the aerospike nozzle. The aerospike nozzle improved the specific impulse of the engine by up to 16% compared to the nozzle-less geometry, which proves to have implications for experimental RDE analysis. Finally, a new aerospike geometry was considered and showed the limitations in high nozzle pressure ratio aerospikes designs for RDEs. The results prove to have implications for future RDE aerospike nozzle design and provide a better understanding of the true performance potential of RDEs.