Scaling relationships governing the thermomechanical response of rotating detonation engine combustor liners
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The recent maturation of rotating detonation engine combustion science and engineering has positioned this technology to disrupt the space economy, among other industries. Rotating detonation engines offer enhanced performance and cost reductions through their more compact and higher-efficiency designs compared to traditional deflagration-based engines. While it is known that sustaining detonation waves within the annular combustor of a rotating detonation engine imparts extreme cyclic thermal and pressure loadings, the severity of these loadings and their couplings for the combustor wall has not previously been established. Here, scaling relationships are provided for the thermal and pressure stresses when the annular combustor is modeled as a semi-infinite solid (sub-structural scale) and 2D ring in plane strain (structural scale) subjected to simultaneous harmonic gas temperature and pressure oscillations. Dimensionless groups are identified that govern contributions from inertial and steady-periodic solutions. Key conclusions are that thermal expansion induced inertial effects from passing detonations are always negligible and significant stress amplifications due to resonance are found over a large range of detonation velocities and liner thicknesses for all metallic materials. The scaling relations developed may be used to guide material selection, combustor sizing, material damping, and detonation frequency targets in order to promote liner durability.
Source: Materials & Design
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,650
Funder: National Science Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W7164957333