Study on the effects of ionization seeds on pulse detonation characteristics

Ionization phenomenon is happened on the wave front due to the presence of high temperature and pressure in the detonation process. Plasma produced in the detonation process can be used as magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generator or flow controlled by the external magnetic field. However, it is necessary to increase the ionization efficiency by adding metal ions with lower ionization potential owing to the limited amount of plasma produced by detonation. In this paper, a model of pulse detonation engine with ionization seeds was established. The Conservation Element and Solution Element (CE/SE) method was deduced to simulate the interaction between plasma and detonation process. The influence of ionization seed contents on the electrical conductivity and detonation characteristic parameters was analyzed, and the MHD control of detonation process was realized by adding the external electromagnetic field device. The results showed that it had a little influence on the detonation process but a great influence on the generation of detonation plasma by the addition of a certain amount of ionized seed. The ion mass fraction and electrical conductivity in the detonation tube were first increased and then decreased with the increase of ionization seed content, which reached the maximum at the ionization seed mass fraction of 0.05. The acceleration and deceleration process could be achieved by the MHD control.