Computational study of formation and stability of standing aoblique detonation waves

A numerical investigation of the behavior of standing oblique detonation waves near the Chapman-Jouguet (minimum entropy) point is the main purpose of this investigation. The laminar, two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations coupled with a non-equilibrium hydrogen/air combustion model based on chemical kinetics are used to represent the physical system. The equations are solved with the WARP computational fluid dynamics code (see: Parent, B. and Sislian, J. P., "The Use of Domain Decomposition in Accelerating the Convergence of Quasi-hyperbolic Systems", J. of Comp. Physics, Vol. 179, No. 1, 2002, pages 140-169). A time accurate simulation of the formation of a standing oblique detonation wave (ODW) near the Chapman-Jonguet condition yields a non-oscillatory, stable structure. The stability of the ODW to inhomogeneities in the oncoming fuel/air mixture is assessed through other time-accurate simulations by artificially introducing small disturbances consisting of pure air just upstream of the ODW structure. The ODW is shown to be resilient to these disturbances. The induction process and radical formation within the ODW structure is also analyzed.