Two-dimensional reactive flow dynamics in cellular detonation waves

Abstract.

This investigation deals with the two-dimensional unsteady detonation characterized by the cellular structure resulting from trajectories of triple-shock configurations formed by the transverse waves and the leading shock front. The time-dependent reactive shock problem considered here is governed by a system of nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws coupled to a polytropic equation of state and a one-step Arrhenius chemical reaction rate with heat release. The numerical solution obtained allowed us to follow the dynamics of the cellular detonation front involving the triple points, transverse waves and unreacted pockets. The calculations show that the weak tracks observed inside the detonation cells around the points of collision of the triple-shock configurations arise from interactions between the transverse shocks and compression waves generated by the collision. The unreacted pockets of gas formed during the collisions of triple points change form when the activation energy increases. For the self-sustained detonation considered here, the unreacted pockets burn inside the region independent of the downstream rarefaction, and thus the energy released supports the detonation propagation. The length of the region independent of the downstream is approximately the size of one or two detonation cell.