An Annular Pulsed Detonation Combustor Mockup: System Identification and Misfiring Detection

An annular pulsed detonation combustor (PDC) basically consists of a number of detonation tubes which are firing in a predetermined sequence into a common downstream annular plenum. Fluctuating initial conditions and fluctuating environmental parameters strongly affect the detonation. Operating such a setup without misfiring is delicate. Misfiring of individual combustion tubes will significantly lower performance or even stop the engine. Hence, an operation of such an engine requires a misfiring detection. Here, a model-based approach is used which exploits the innovation sequence calculated by a Kalman filter. The model necessary for the Kalman filter is determined based on a modal identification technique. A surrogate, nonreacting experimental setup is considered in order to develop and test these methods.