Linear and nonlinear effects in detonation wave structure formation

Abstract

The role of linear and nonlinear effects in the process of formation of detonation wave structure is investigated using linear stability analysis and direct numerical simulation. A simple model with a one-step irreversible chemical reaction is considered. For linear stability computations, both the local iterative shooting procedure and the global Chebyshev pseudospectral method are employed. Numerical simulations of 1D pulsating instability are performed using a shock fitting approach based on a 5th order upwind-biased compact-difference discretization and a shock acceleration equation deduced from the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions. A shock capturing WENO scheme of the 5th order is used to simulate propagation of detonation wave in a plane channel. It is shown that the linear analysis predicts correctly the mode dominating on early stages of flow evolution and the size of detonation cells which emerge during these stages. Later, however, when a developed self-reproducing cellular structure forms, the cell size is approximately doubled due to nonlinear effects.