Experimental Investigations of Hydrogen Fuelled Pulsed Detonation Combustor

Detonation combustion unveils avenues towards increased performances and efficiencies of classic deflagration architectures and enables opportunities for supersonic flight platforms. Furthermore, their primarily fuel candidate, Hydrogen, which is prone to detonation, has enormous potential in both industrial and mobility decarbonization. Nonetheless supersonic flame propagation is associated with disadvantages in terms of aerodynamic and thermal losses, which raises difficulties in achieving practical applications. Moreover, to achieve a safe and reliable energy conversion, Hydrogen combustion needs special attention. This paper addresses the analysis of a Hydrogen fuelled pulsed detonation combustor, to contribute to the understanding of the high-speed mixing performance and to improve the specific know-how regarding pressure gain combustors. By means of Z-type Schlieren visualization technique, the structure of the engine’s exhaust plume is determined to capture the intrinsic unsteady phenomena of the detonation process. Qualitative instantaneous static pressure results are presented and correlated to the Schlieren images to evaluate the cycle stages and its operating frequency.