Extinction of incident hydrogen/air detonation in fine water sprays

Two-dimensional numerical simulations with Eulerian-Lagrangian method are conducted to study propagation and extinction of stoichiometric hydrogen/air detonations in fine water sprays. Parameterized by water mass loading and droplet size, a detonation extinction map is predicted. Detonation extinction occurs with larger mass loading and/or smaller droplet size. General features of water droplets and local detonation frontal structures are well captured. Numerical soot foils are used to characterize the influence of mass loading and droplet size on the detonation wave. The results also show that the detonation cell size increases with increased mass loading or decreased droplet size. Analysis on unsteady detonation extinction process is performed with the evolutions of detonation frontal structure, spatial distribution of thermochemical variables, and interphase transfer rates (mass, energy, and momentum). Moreover, the chemical explosive mode analysis reveals that for stable detonation, thermal runaway dominates behind the Mach stem, while chemical propensities of autoignition and thermal runaway appear alternately behind the incident wave. When the induction zone length increases as the reaction front (RF) and shock front (SF) are decoupled, localized burned pockets surrounded by the autoignition chemical explosive mixture can be observed. In addition, the interactions between detonation wave and water droplets demonstrate that the energy and momentum transfer have more direct interaction with SF and RF than the mass transfer. The interphase transfer rates increase with the water mass loading. Under the same mass loading, the smaller the droplet size, the larger the interphase transfer rates. However, the size of fine water droplets has a limited influence on the interphase momentum exchange. Moreover, high energy and mass transfer rates are observed at the onset of detonation extinction, and they gradually decrease when the reaction and detonation fronts are decoupled.

Automated summary

The study shows that the detonation cell size increases with increased water mass loading or decreased droplet size, affecting the propagation of detonation wave. High energy and mass transfer rates have more direct interaction with front structures and reaction fronts during detonation extinction. Additionally, the influence of droplet size on interphase momentum exchange is limited.