Viscous multi-phase detonation of a pulse detonation engine with plasma jet ignition

The two-dimensional viscous space-time conservation element and solution element (CE/SE) method is used to calculate the multi-phase detonation of plasma jet ignition. The effects of viscosity on the detonation flow field are compared with the N–S equation and the Euler equation as the governing equtions, and the effects of the jet temperature, time and initial droplet radius on the deflagration-to-detonation transition are analysed. The results show that the effect of viscosity on the propagation of detonation waves is very small, but the viscosity has certain effects on the detonation parameters. It is possible to significantly shorten the (deflagration-to-detonation transition) DDT distance of the stable detonation by increasing the temperature and time of the initial jet ignition. When the plasma jet has already fully ignited the detonable mixture, increasing the jet time has little effect on shortening the DDT distance. When the droplet radius is less than 50 μm, the peak pressure of the detonation wave increases with an increase in the droplet radius, and the peak pressure decreases with an increase in the droplet radius when the droplet radius is more than 50 μm.