Experimental Investigations of Liquid Fueled Pulsejet Engines

Abstract

Various sizes of pulsejets are used to study the effects of heavy liquid fuels like kerosene and military grade JP-8. A hobby scale pulsejet, commercially available from Bailey Machine Services (BMS), is used with gasoline to verify data acquisition techniques, and attempts are made to use kerosene to fuel the jet to prove the viability of using kerosene to power pulsejet engines. A large valved pulsejet, predicted to deliver 25 lbs of thrust, is designed to be used with kerosene for initial testing to prove the feasibility of using such a propulsion device for personal troop transport. A 25 cm valveless pulsejet is designed, fabricated, and tested using propane, gasoline, and kerosene to determine if such an engine is practical for propelling a small, high speed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for military application. Temperatures, average and instantaneous combustion chamber pressure, sound pressure levels and jet operating frequencies were recorded at various fuel flow rates.