automobile engine
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. INTRODUCTION
Rocket engines that work much like an automobile engine are being developed at NASA™s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Pulse detonation rocket engines offer a lightweight, low-cost alternative for space transportation. Pulse detonation rocket engine technology is being developed for upper stages that boost satellites to higher orbits. The advanced propulsion technology could also be used for lunar and planetary Landers and excursion vehicles that require throttle control for gentle landings.The engine operates on pulses, so controllers could dial in the frequency of the detonation in the "digital" engine to determine thrust. Pulse detonation rocket engines operate by injecting propellants into long cylinders that are open on one end and closed on the other. When gas fills a cylinder, an igniter”such as a spark plug”is activated. Fuel begins to burn and rapidly transitions to a detonation, or powered shock. The shock wave travels through the cylinder at 10 times the speed of sound, so combustion is completed before the gas has time to expand. The explosive pressure of the detonation pushes the exhaust out the open end of the cylinder, providing thrust to the vehicle.


PRE-COMPRESSION AND DETONATION

In the PDE the pre-compression is instead a result of interactions between the combustion and gas dynamic effects, i.e. the combustion is driving the shock wave, and the shock wave (through the increase in temperature across it) is necessary for the fast combustion to occur. In general, detonations are extremely complex phenomena, involving forward propagating as well as transversal shock waves, connected more or less tightly to the combustion complex during the propagation of the entity. 


. COMBUSTION ANALYSISWhile real gas effects are important considerations to the prediction of real PDE performance, it is instructive to examine thermodynamic cycle performance using perfect gas assumptions. Such an examination provides three benefits. First, the simplified relations provide an opportunity to understand the fundamental processes inherent in the production of thrust bythe PDE. Second, such an analysis provides the basis for evaluating the potential of the PDE relative to other cycles, most notably the Brayton cycle. Finally, a perfect gas analysis provides the 0framework for developing a thermodynamic cycle analysis for the prediction of realistic PDE performance


COMBUSTOR LOSSES
The next step in the cycle comparison is to introduce degraded combustor componentefficiencies. In this step, a nominal 90% heat release efficiency was used. The results, Figure 8, are similar to the inlet degraded results in that the PDE still exhibits reduced fuel consumption. As before, both the ramjet and PDE are experiencing similar component losses, so no significant relative change in performance occurs