Effects of different injection schemes on the detonation structure of rotating detonation engines*

Pressure gain combustor (PGC) has drawn more attention as a next-generation combustor. In particular, rotating detonation engines (RDEs) have emerged as a viable candidate for PGC due to their continuous mode of operation. The practical challenge is to optimize the non-premixed injection in order to maximize pressure gain while ensuring a reliable and safe detonation process. For this purpose, the effect of mixing on detonation structure needs to be understood. 
In this work, two different injection configurations, namely the AFRL RDE configuration and the University of Michigan pintle geometry will be simulated. The main difference between the two configurations is the injector design. In the AFRL geometry, the fuel and oxidizer jets interact at right angles, while in the UM geometry, the jets intersect at an angle. This difference is shown to generate marked variation in the detonation structure. The simulations use hydrogen/air fuel-air mixture and employ detailed chemical kinetics. A high-fidelity scalable compressible flow solver is used. Detailed comparisons with experiments will be shown.