Influences of thermal physical property parameters on operating characteristics of simulated rotating detonation ramjet fueled by C12H23

Two-phase rotating detonation ramjets are considered to be suitable for aerospace applications due to their high thermodynamic cycle efficiency. These engines have an extremely complex internal flow field, in which the liquid fuel undergoes physical and chemical processes such as fragmentation, evaporation, mixing, and combustion; these processes also interact with detonation waves that have significant gradients. This makes it difficult to simulate a three-dimensional (3D) full-process rotating detonation combustion chamber. Here, based on the Euler–Lagrangian simulation method, a 3D numerical combustion chamber was simulated using kinetic theory and the constant thermal physical property parameter (TPPP) calculation method. The accuracy of these methods was then compared with the existing experimental results and theoretical values. Calculating the TPPPs using kinetic theory brought about a relatively high-pressure peak and detonation wave temperature; the detonation wave profile was also finer and more precise. The detonation wave propagation velocity of the two-phase detonation is estimated to be about 60% of the theoretical gas-phase CJ velocity. The calculation method of physical parameters has relatively little influence on the engine’s operating frequency and the detonation wave's propagation velocity but has a more significant influence on the peak pressure. Constant TPPPs can be used when the Kelvin–Helmholtz–Rayleigh–Taylor model with insufficient precision is used to consider the breakup of droplets and leads to the acceleration of the propagation speed of two-phase detonation waves.