Effects of a turbine guide vane on hydrogen-air rotating detonation wave propagation characteristics

The rotating detonation engine is a new machine that can generate thrust via continuous rotating detonation waves (RDWs). In this study, experiments were performed on a structure combining a rotating detonation combustor (RDC) and a turbine guide vane to investigate the propagation characteristic of hydrogen-air RDW. The results showed that the velocity of detonation wave initially increased and then decreased with the increase of equivalence ratio, and it got a velocity of 84% Chapman-Jouguet value. The velocity of detonation wave generally rose by 4.31% comparing with the no guide vane tests, while the scope of steady-operation state became narrow. The oscillation pressure was reduced by 64% after passing through the guide vane, and the magnitude of pressure was only 0.4 bar at the guide vane exit. Meanwhile, part of the shock wave was reflected back to combustor resulting in some small pressure disturbances, and the propagation mode of reflected wave was related to the propagation direction of RDW.