Combustion and pressure wave interaction in enclosed mixtures initiated by temperature nonuniformities

Abstract

The dynamics of one-dimensional combustion waves originating from hot-spot ignition was studied numerically by solving the corresponding conservation equations for mass, species, energy, and momentum. The mathematical model included a multispecies transport model and a detailed reaction mechanism. The numerical solution of the time-dependent conservation equations was based on the method of lines and on a dynamic adaptive grid technique. Due to the stiffness of the resulting system of ordinary differential equations, the BDF-code DASSL was used to integrate the equations. The results of the simulations show that the interaction of combustion and pressure wave can lead to deflagration to detonation transition. Depending on the temperature levels and the shaple of the temperature nonuniformity, ordinary flame propagation, deflagration to detonation transition or to deflagration waves, depending on the initial conditions.