Detonation-based propulsion engines are potentially more efficient than existing combustion engines, but they can be unreliable. A team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis plans to use ultrasound to make fuel droplets smaller to overcome some of the challenges of using this technology.
James Friend, the Stephen F. & Camilla T. Brauer Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science at WashU McKelvey Engineering, plans to develop an atomizing nozzle for detonation combustion in aircraft engines with a three-year $717,990 grant from the Office of Naval Research. His co-principal investigator is Kareem Ahmed from the University of Central Florida's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
With the funding, they plan to study detonation experimentally while quickly developing the design of the atomizing nozzle, anticipating up to 20 device iterations over the course of the work.
