Numerical simulation of detonation structures using a thermodynamically consistent and fully conservative reactive flow model for multi-component computations

This paper presents a simplified reactive multi-gas model for the numerical simulation of detonation waves. The mathematical model is formulated based on a thermodynamically consistent and fully conservative formulation, and is extended to model reactive flow by considering the reactant and product gases as two constituents of the system and modelling the conversion between these by a simple one-step reaction mechanism. This simplified model allows simulations using more appropriate chemico-thermodynamic properties of the combustible mixture and yields close Chapman–Jouguet detonation parameters from detailed chemistry. The governing equations are approximated using a high-resolution finite volume centred scheme in an adaptive mesh refinement code, permitting high-resolution simulations to be performed at flow regions of interest. The algorithm is tested and validated by comparing results to predictions of the one-dimensional linear stability analysis of the steady detonation and through the study of the evolution of two-dimensional cellular detonation waves in gaseous hydrogen-based mixtures.