Direct Simulation of Ultrafast Detonations in Mixtures

For nearly a century experimental measurements of the velocities of detonations in gases have been found in general agreement with those of the Chapman-Jouguet (C-J) hypothesis predicting velocities, relative to the burned gases, equal to the speed of sound in the burned gases. This was further supported by the Zeldovich von Neumann Döring (ZND) theories predicting Chapman-Jouguet velocities for detonations in which the shock and reaction zones are separated. However, for a very fast reaction, the shock and reaction regions overlap and the assumptions required for the C-J and ZND theories are no longer valid. Previous work with the direct simulation method established conditions for forcing the reaction and shock regions to coalesce in a detonation wave by means of a very fast exothermic reaction. The resulting detonation velocities were characterized as ultrafast, as they were found to exceed the steady-state velocities predicted by the C-J and ZND theories. Continued investigation into the ultrafast regime has allowed for the further development of this inconsistency with theory by including a heavy non-reacting gas in the mixture. The resulting gaseous mixtures closely followed the C-J predicted behavior for slow reactions, and for very fast reactions were found to produce ultrafast detonations with a substantially greater deviation from C-J behavior.