Wave engines are a class of unsteady, air-breathing propulsion devices that use an intermittent combustion process to generate thrust. The inherently simple mechanical design of the wave engine allows for a relatively low cost per unit propulsion system, yet unsatisfactory overall performance has severely limited the development of commercially successful wave engines. The primary objective of this investigation was to develop a more detailed physical understanding of the influence of gas dynamic nonlinearities, unsteady combustion processes, and engine shape on overall wave engine performance. Within this study, several numerical models were developed and applied to wave engines and related applications. The first portion of this investigation examined the influence of duct shape on driven oscillations in acoustic compression devices, which represent a simplified physical system closely related in several ways to the wave engine. A numerical model based on an application of the Galerkin method was developed to simulate large amplitude, one-dimensional acoustic waves driven in closed ducts. Results from this portion of the investigation showed that gas-dynamic nonlinearities significantly influence the properties of driven oscillations by transferring acoustic energy from the fundamental driven mode into higher harmonic modes. The second portion of this investigation presented and analyzed results from a numerical model of wave engine dynamics based on the quasi one-dimensional conservation equations in addition to separate sub-models for mixing and heat release. This model was then used to perform parametric studies of the characteristics of mixing and engine shape. The objectives of these studies were to determine the influence of mixing characteristics and engine shape on overall wave engine performance and to develop insight into the physical processes controlling overall performance trends. Results from this model showed that wave engine performance was strongly dependent on the coupling between the unsteady heat release that drives oscillations in the engine and the characteristics that determine the acoustic properties of the engine such as engine shape and mean property gradients. Simulation results showed that average thrust generation decreased dramatically when the natural acoustic mode frequencies of the engine and the frequency content of the unsteady heat release were not aligned.

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier l’initiation directe et la propagation d’une détonation dans un milieu cryogénique diphasique GH2-LOx dans le cadre général des moteurs à onde de détonation pour la propulsion spatiale. Un rappel des bases théoriques sur les processus d’atomisation d’un jet liquide, puis sur la détonation en phase gazeuse, et enfin sur la détonation dans un mélange diphasique, constituent le premier chapitre de la thèse. Le deuxième chapitre présente les dispositifs expérimentaux et les techniques utilisés pour mener à bien les expériences de caractérisation du jet diphasique et d’étude de la détonation. Le troisième chapitre est consacré à l’étude dans un tube en quartz de la granulométrie d’un jet diphasique GHe-LOx non réactif. Une cartographie est ainsi réalisée sur l’ensemble du tube, pour différents débits d’injection. Ces résultats sont corroborés par une étude théorique sur une goutte isolée et par une étude numérique sur le comportement du jet en champ proche de l’injecteur. Le quatrième chapitre présente les résultats de l’étude de la détonation dans un tube en acier d’un mélange réactif GH2-LOx. La détonation est étudiée en fonction de divers paramètres : énergie d’initiation stockée, emplacement du dispositif d’initiation par étincelle, richesse globale du mélange. La célérité et la pression de détonation, ainsi que la structure tridimensionnelle de la détonation, sont les principales informations recueillies pour l’étude du phénomène de détonation en mélange diphasique. Une étude théorique des caractéristiques de la détonation apporte des éclairages supplémentaires sur la détonation à très basse température (100 K). / Within the general framework of detonation engines for space propulsion purpose, this work aims to study direct initiation and propagation of detonation in a cryogenic twophase GH2-LO2 mixture. First chapter is constituted by theoretical basis and state of art on atomization processes in liquid jets, then on gas-phase detonation, and finally on two-phase detonation. Second chapter describes experimental set-up and associate techniques in order to carry out two-phase jet characterization and detonation study. Third chapter is dedicated to the study of droplet size distribution of non reactive two-phase GHe-LO2 jet in a quartz tube. Thus, a droplet size map is constituted through the whole tube, for different helium injection speeds. These results are compared with theoretical study dealing with vaporization and movement of a droplet and with numerical simulations on jet behavior close to the injector. Fourth chapter presents results of a detonation study of a reactive GH2-LO2 two-phase mixture in a semi-open tube. Detonation is studied as a function of following parameters: initiation energy, spark initiation device location along the tube, global equivalence ratio. Velocity, peak pressure and three-dimension structure detonation are the main data collected to study two-phase detonation phenomena. A theoretical study of detonation characteristics brings additional information on detonation at low temperature (100 K).