| dc.description.abstract | Engines operating on detonation-combustion cycles promise the high-performance, efficient propulsion necessary for sustained air breathing super- and hyper- sonic flight. Development of engines operating on such cycles requires a thorough understanding of the relevant physics involved. For many practical and performance purposes, liquid-fueled engines are a necessity for feasible flight platforms. It is therefore imperative to understand fully the mechanisms by which liquid fuel droplets injected into a detonation engine are processed by the detonation wave. This is a complex multi-phase process, consisting of simultaneous droplet breakup, evaporation, and reaction. While gaseous-fueled detonations are well studied and somewhat well understood, liquid fueled detonations have not received the same attention. Here it is proposed to design, engineer, construct, and test a facility that will be used to investigate the mechanisms of liquid fuel droplet breakup in a detonation environment. Such a facility will allow for full measurements both of bulk detonation properties and spatial and temporally resolved optical imagery of droplet processing by detonation. | |
