The thermal management on rotating detonation engine is attracting much attention in recent years. In this study, the experiments were performed on a rotating detonation combustor to study the temperature and heat-transfer characteristics of the outer wall. Hydrogen, which was used as fuel, was injected into chamber through 120 orifices uniformly distributed in front of combustor, and air, which was functioned as an oxidiser, was injected into combustion chamber through an annular slot. An infrared thermal imaging was used to measure the temperature of outer wall. All the experimental test cases could obtain a stable rotating detonation wave, and the hot-gas temperature decreased with the increase of axial-direction length. The temperature initially increased and then decreased from the head of the wall towards the back. The heat which transferred from the hot gas to the outer wall was further large than the value of losing during the combustor operation, resulting in an approximately linear relationship for the temperature rise. There was a similar distribution trend for the outer-wall heat flux under the conditions of different equivalence ratios, and the location of 20% distance, relative to combustor length, had a biggest heat flux. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC.