With no moving parts in the power production section and a thermodynamically efficient cycle, the Pulsed Detonation Engine (PDE) offers a low-cost alternative to turbojet and liquid-propellant rocket engines. Both air-breathing and pure rocket modes of engine operation offer substantial system, materials, and cycle advantages that will allow us to bypass the scalability, operational range, efficiency, and cost limitations of existing engines. We introduced the modern PDE concept in 1986 and experimentally demonstrated its operation in 1986, 1994, and 1998. The concept was subsequently treated extensively in a number of analytical and experimental studies. This paper examines the thermal balance of the PDE as a function of engine length, cycle frequency, external flow Mach number and other parameters. The results indicate that PDEs will have thermal characteristics that are drastically different from conventional engines. The results of the study have important implication for PDE design and analysis.
展开▼
