Cellular Structure of Detonation Waves in Several Tube Configurations for Applications to the Pulse Detonation Engine

We study the cellular structure of a two-dimensional detonation wave of a H2/O2/Ar mixture. Experimental data showed the existence of cellular structure on the front of a detonation wave, that most commercial CFD-packages, are not able to capture. By replacing the solvers with better-studied standard algorithms, we are able to capture the cellular structures. These cellular structures may have an effect on sustained detonation as in a PDE.

We use 2 numerical classes of Riemann Solvers: methods such as ENO/WENO, and high resolution Godunov methods. In both cases, the same chemical reaction model is used, and high resolution grids are investigated. We compare the difference in the cellular detonation structures that result, from using two different classes of numerical methods.

We also study the cellular structure resulting from different configurations of the shock tube. Configurations include shock tube with a sloping inward wall and another shock tube with an outward sloping wall. We compare the differences in the cellular structure of the detonation wave for different geometries.