Advanced Diagnostic for Performance and Combustion Characterization in Rotational Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE)

Rotating Detonation Rocket Engines (RDRE)are being developed to take advantage of the near instantaneous heat release potential of detonation waves versus conventional deflagration-based chemical reactions in combustion applications. However, the detonation product environment is extreme and current instrumentation to measure wall / surface conditions within the detonation chamber are lacking. The primary objective of this proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of designing,manufacturing,and testing an advanced microscale-size, high temporal bandwidth temperature(T)and heat flux(HF)sensor for use in the extreme wall surface environment of a RDRE detonation chamber. The novel T/HFthin-film thermocouple sensor will be embedded in the RDRE metal wall,within microns of the surface during the fabrication stage, thus allowing for excellent thermal contact with the base metal substrate while achieving fast response(>1 MHz). The novel fabrication technique will allow for multiple temperature measurements simultaneously and advanced inverse heat transfer computational techniques will be used to compute the heat flux in the high-noise environment within the RDRE. Exo-Atmospheric Technologies will fabricate the advanced sensor and characterize it using a shock tube at the University of Michigan. The sensor will then be characterized in an race-track RDRE under a range of operational conditions.