Heat Transfer Experiments on a Pulse Detonation Driven Combustor

Heat transfer experiments were conducted using a heat exchanger behind a pulse detonation combustor and aGarrett automotive turbocharger at the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). The equivalence ratio and purge fraction wereheld at 1.0 and 0.9, respectively, while the frequency of operation was varied from 10 to 12 Hz in 1 Hz movements, andthe fill fraction was varied from 0.5 to 0.8 in 0.1 increments. Temperature measurements were calculated using anenergy balance allowing for the calculation of heat exchanger inlet enthalpy. The heat exchanger inlet enthalpy wasestimated to be the exit enthalpy of the turbocharger it was coupled to. The representative turbine inlet enthalpy wascalculated using compressor work and radiation from the turbine. Turbine inlet and exit temperatures were alsomeasured directly using J-type and K-type thermocouples and compared to calculated values using the heat exchangerapproach.