Design of a Variable Vacuum Chamber for Testing Flight Profiles on RDE

Rotating Detonation Engines (RDE) are the next step in the development of propulsion technology in which a continuous wave travels in an annulus while detonating a mixture of fuel and oxidizer. This technology achieves higher efficiencies and specific impulses compared to more conventional deflagration engines such as rocket engines and gas turbine engines. This type of engine has been studied for the past decades focused on overcoming the challenges of the detonation cycle which are the higher heat flux, higher temperatures, development of new materials that withstand the operating conditions, improving the combustion process and increasing the specific impulse and thrust. In more recent years there has been interest in testing the technology by means of launching the engine in a rocket type demonstrator. This study aims to design a variable vacuum chamber for testing flight profiles of a small-scale rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE). The purpose of the design is to reduce the gap between the launch of a demonstrator vehicle and ground tests that could replicate the flight conditions.