Performance of a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine with Various Convergent Nozzles and Chamber Lengths

A rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) with various convergent nozzles and chamber lengths is investigated. Three hundred hot-fire tests are performed using methane and oxygen ranging from equivalence ratio equaling 0.5–2.5 and total propellant flow up to 0.680 kg/s. For the full-length (76.2 mm) chamber study, three nozzles at contraction ratios ϵ c = 1.23, 1.62 and 2.40 are tested. Detonation is exhibited for each geometry at equivalent conditions, with only fuel-rich operability slightly increased for the ϵ c = 1.62 and 2.40 nozzles. Despite this, counter-propagation, i.e., opposing wave sets, becomes prevalent with increasing constriction. This is accompanied by higher number of waves, lower wave speed U wv and higher unsteadiness. Therefore, the most constricted nozzle always has the lowest U wv . In contrast, engine performance increases with constriction, where thrust and specific impulse linearly increase with ϵ c for equivalent conditions, with a 27% maximum increase. Additionally, two half-length (38.1 mm) chambers are studied including a straight chamber and ϵ c = 2.40 nozzle; these shortened geometries show equal performance to their longer equivalent. Furthermore, the existence of counter-propagation is minimized. Accompanying high-fidelity simulations and injection recovery analyses describe underlying injection physics driving chamber wave dynamics, suggesting the physical throat/injector interaction influences counter-propagation.