Numerical Simulations of Unstart Phenomenon in Ramac Device

  • M. H. Lefebvre
  • J. E. Leblanc
  • T. Fujiwara
Conference paper
Part of the Fluid Mechanics and Its Applications book series (FMIA, volume 39)

Abstract

The structure of the detonations around the throat of a ram-accelerator device is numerically studied. The mixture studied is stoichiometric hydrogen-air at 0.1 atm. The physical model includes the integration of a detailed set of chemical reaction rates. The numerical model uses a TVD upwind algorithm and a semi-implicit finite difference scheme for the coupling of the flow equations with the chemical reaction rates. The study focuses on flowfields which result in the unstart phenomenon. We do observe the unstart phenomenon in a limited range of incoming Mach numbers. Although the residence time of the reactive gas in the ramac device is not long enough to induce exothermic chemical reactions, we do observe a chemical reaction originating from a vortex downstream from the throat. Snapshots of the computed unstart show the formation of a very strong detonation outrunning the projectile. Analyses show the importance of the flowfield near and behind the shoulder of the projectile (the throat of the RAMAC device). Changes to the projectile geometry modify the conditions to observe the unstart.

Keywords

Induction Time Deflection Angle Inflow Velocity Fluid Element Freestream Velocity 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1997

Authors and Affiliations

  • M. H. Lefebvre
    • 1
  • J. E. Leblanc
    • 2
  • T. Fujiwara
    • 2
  1. 1.Department of ChemistryRoyal Military AcademyBrusselsBelgium
  2. 2.Department of Aerospace EngineeringNagoya UniversityNagoyaJapan

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