Shock wave interactions with particles and liquid fuel droplets

Abstract.

Shock waves traveling through a multiphase flow environment are studied numerically using the Flux Corrected Transport (FCT) algorithm. Both solid particles and liquid droplets are used as the dispersed phase with their trajectories being computed using a Lagrangian tracking scheme. The phases are coupled by including source terms which account for mass transfer, momentum, and energy exchange from the dispersed phase in the governing equations of motion for the gas phase. For solid particles, droplet size effects are examined at constant mass loading. Deceleration of the shock wave is observed with effects increasing with decreasing particle size. The equilibrium velocity attained is found to agree with analytical results for an equivalent dense gas with a modified specific heat ratio. For liquid droplets, a droplet breakup model is introduced and the results show a faster attenuation rate than with the solid particle model. The inclusion of vaporization to the breakup model is seen to increase the attenuation rate but does not alter the final equilibrium velocity. When an energy release model is used in the simulations, behavior resembling a detonation is observed under certain conditions, with energy release coupling with and accelerating the shock front.