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Talk Abstract
Cellular Detonations in Systems with High Activation Energy

Vadim N. Gamezo
Laboratory for Computational Physics and Fluid Dynamics
Naval Research Laboratory
Washington, D.C. 20375


Detonation waves in gases and in many homogeneous liquid explosives form complex multidimensional structures characterized by detonation cell sizes and regularities that depend on the kinetics of energy release and the thermodynamic parameters of the system. Experimental studies of gaseous detonations (see, for example, [1,2]) and multidimensional numerical simulations of the detonations using a one-step Arrhenius kinetics [3] have shown that an increase in activation energy leads to more irregular cellular structures. The experiments also indicate that small secondary cells can appear inside the main structure when the activation energy is high enough [1,2]. An analysis [4,5] of similar phenomena in liquid explosives has shown that the secondary cells may occur when the overdriven parts of the cellular detonation front become unstable enough to form secondary triple points during the time between two collisions of the primary triple-shock configurations. Two-dimensional numerical simulations [6] confirmed that the secondary cellular structure can exist in reactive systems with a one-step Arrhenius kinetics and a high activation energy. The results of numerical simulations presented here show the evolution of the cellular detonations for different activation energies, the formation of different types of the secondary cells, and the influence of the diffusive transport properties which stabilize the detonation front at small scales.

References

  1. Manzhalei V. I., Fizika Gorenija i Vzryva 13:470-472 (1977).

  2. Vasiliev, A. A., Mitrofanov, V. V., and Topchian M. E., Fizika Gorenija i Vzryva 23:109-131 (1987).

  3. Gamezo, V. N., Desbordes, D., and Oran E. S., Combust. Flame 116:154-165 (1999).

  4. Dremin, A.N., Nelin, V.M., and Trofimov, V.S., Fizika Goreniya i Vzryva, 16:82-92 (1980).

  5. Dremin, A.N., Fizika Goreniya i Vzryva, 19:159-169 (1983)

  6. Gamezo, V. N., Khokhlov, A. M., and Oran, E. S. Proceedings of the 17th International Colloquium on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems, Universit\"at Heidelberg, IWR, 1999. ISBN 3-932217-01-2.


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