Performance Estimates of an Idealized Pulse Detonation Engine

2 PERFORMANCE ESTIMATES OF AN IDEALIZED PULSE DETONATION ENGINE 

The effects of parameters used for initiating detonations in simulations have been discussed previously [10, 11] and estimated to be as much as 27%. Clearly, this 

In [2], it was reported that good estimates for the propulsive performance measures of a stoichiometric ethylene-oxygen mixture initially at 1 atm are about 

What this generalization implies is that one can estimate the impulse from an idealized PDE knowing the plateau pressure, P3, and the detonation velocity. That is, the impulse per unit area is given by 

This expression derived from the authors numerical simulations is similar to the expressions for 4p obtained from theoretical analysis [14] and experiments [15]. The constants of proportionality are slightly different in the various studies, suggesting some dependence on the details of the particular configuration such as initiators or tube lengths used for deriving the correlation. Estimates at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have changed by 4% or less as data from new simulations are added to the correlation. This provides an estimate for the level of uncertainty inherent in such correlations. 

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