Influence of Fuel on a Valveless Pulsejet Engine Performance and Pollutant Emissions

Abstract

In this work the performance of a valveless pulsejet with two different fuels and several fuel mass flows was numerically estimated. Results for pressures, velocities, traction and pollutant formation are presented. Even though this type of engine has many advantages over the conventional types, it still has many problems for application in civil aviation due to noise levels. Although having a very simple construction, operation is not completely understood, so studies continue to be made in order to have a better knowledge of the physics behind operation. For engine sizing, was performed a calculation procedure based on data of existing engines and equations reported in the literature. The pulsejet operation was then simulated using ANSYS Fluent 16.2. Simulations were 2D transient, three different fuel flows were analysed: 0.04 kg/s, 0.06 kg/s and 0.1 kg/s and two fuels used: propane and methane. For propane an additional case was defined, being the fuel mass flow of 0.12 kg/s. The results obtained are similar for the two fuels, the variables have the same behaviour with the variation of the fuel flow except for the operating frequency.