Posted on 05/10/2021 2:04:20 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The breakthrough was built on decades of research into a theoretical propulsion system called an oblique detonation wave engine (ODWE). The concept works by funneling a mixture of air and fuel at hypersonic speeds (more than five times the speed of sound) toward a ramp, which creates a shock wave. This shock wave rapidly heats up the fuel-air mixture and causes it to detonate, blasting exhaust gasses out from the back of the engine at high speed.
In theory, this detonation should be able to propel an aircraft at up to 17 times the speed of sound, say the researchers, which could be fast enough for spacecraft to simply fly out of the atmosphere...
By carefully balancing the proportions of the air-fuel mixture, the speed of the gas flow and the angle of the ramp, they were able to generate a detonation that remained fixed in position for around 3 seconds. That's long enough to confirm that the detonation was stabilized in a fixed position and was not travelling up or downstream, Ahmed said, which is a first, major step toward realizing a real-life ODWE.
The researchers only ran their experiment for a few seconds mainly because the intensity of the detonation rapidly erodes the glass sides of the test chamber, Ahmed explained. They had to use glass in their initial tests so that they could make optical measurements of the detonation, but if they were to replace them with metal sides they should be able to run the detonation for much longer...
The main challenge for the researchers now is working out how they can alter the three key ingredients of fuel mix, air speed and ramp angle while still maintaining the stability of the detonation.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Exactly what I thought.
How cool—thank you for the tip! I will add it to my reading list.
17 times the speed of sound + Friction = BOOM
I read this around the time it came out.
Dyson’s idea for a ship to explore the galaxy consisted of a huge cone. Nuclear charges would be dropped into the cone and detonated - sending the craft into the stars.
A similar concept to what they are describing. I believe the book describes the actual flight tests that were conducted on small models using small explosives.
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