Numerical study of cellular structure in detonation of a stoichiometric mixture of vapor JP-10 in air using a quasi-detailed chemical kinetic model

Abstract

Abstract Regularity of cellular structure that forms in the detonation of a stoichiometric gaseous JP-10/air mixture was investigated using a quasi-detailed chemical kinetic model consisting of 275 elementary reactions among 54 chemical species. Two-dimensional numerical simulations were conducted for the cases of a wave front structure that develops in a channel following strong initial perturbations. The effect that the grid resolution has on the detonation structure was examined. With a low grid resolution, relatively regular detonation structure was achieved, but an irregular structure developed at moderately high resolutions. The formation process of irregular structure can be divided into three states: overdriven state, regular state and irregular state. The detonation cell size obtained from numerical results about 50 mm is similar with the experimental results. Meanwhile, new modes appear earlier in wider domains than in narrower domains. This preliminary work provides references for our future research on detonation limits and fuel selection in cloud explosion.