A Wave-Count Stability Atlas for the Koch–Kurosaka–Knowlen–Kutz Rotating Detonation Engine Analog

Ansh Pathak - 2026 - Preprint · Open dataset

A rotating detonation engine (RDE) is an annular combustor in which detonation waves race around a ring instead of burning at constant pressure - and the number of co-rotating waves N is emergent, not designed. As propellant injection increases, the engine jumps abruptly from one wave to two, three, then four, yet nobody had mapped where those states live in parameter space for the standard Koch-Kurosaka-Knowlen-Kutz reduced-order model. This work runs 5,856 GPU simulations to build the first two-parameter regime map - injector plenum pressure versus injector stiffness - resolving the locked N = 1-4 bands, the narrow galloping (modulated) windows and small chaotic patches between them, and the uniform-combustion region at high pressure. Checked against experimental mode-transition data from six laboratories, 19 of 24 experimental points agree within one wave, and simulated wave speeds sit 8-10% below the theoretical Chapman-Jouguet speed, consistent with real engines. The atlas, code and data are open and DOI-archived at 10.5281/zenodo.21697129.

5,856 - GPU simulations · first regime map
6 - Laboratories in the validation set
19 / 24 - Experimental points within one wave
8–10% - Below Chapman–Jouguet wave speed