Experimental and numerical study on pressure oscillation in a combustor with rotary valve

A rotary valve coupled in a combustor assembly can generate periodic pressure oscillations inside the combustor and can be used to study the combustion instability in the combustion chamber of a rocket engine. This paper proposes a cold gas flow experimental system based on a rotary valve and a corresponding rotation model. A 3D numerical model is proposed to obtain the transient flow inside the rotary valve, and the dynamic mesh technique and User-Defined Functions (UDFs) are adopted to implement a swing motion instead of a rotary motion. Several cold gas flow experiments are carried out at rotating speeds of 75 225, and 375 rpm to verify the validity of the numerical model. The effects of rotating speed, stroke length ratio and radius of the RED (Rotor Exhaust Duct) on the pressure oscillations are studied using this numerical model. The results show that the maximum and peak-to-peak values of the pressure oscillations gradually decrease with increasing rotating speed. The ratio of the corresponding peak-to-peak value to the maximum pressure (pressure amplitude ratio) is reduced from 1.81 to 0.6%. The stroke length ratio affects the pressure waveform because it leads to a change in the time spent in the non-exhaust stage. When the stroke length ratio is 0, the waveform closely resembles a sine wave. With the increase in the stroke length ratio, the pressure waveform exhibits a more square or a triangular wave shape. Finally, a high-frequency and high-amplitude pressure oscillation can be obtained by appropriately increasing the radius of the RED.