The numerical simulations of explosion and implosion in air: use of a modified Harten's TVD scheme

Numerical simulations of explosion and implosion in air are carried out with a modified Harten's TVD scheme. The new scheme has a high resolution for contact discontinuities in addition to maintaining the good features of Harten's TVD scheme. In the numerical experiment of spherical explosion in air, the second shock wave (which does not exist in the one‐dimensional shock tube problem) and its subsequent implosion on the origin have been successfully captured. The positions of the main shock wave, the contact discontinuity and the second shock wave have shown satisfactory agreement with those predicted from previous analysis. The numerical results are also compared with those obtained experimentally. Finally, simulations of a cylindrical explosion and implosion in air are carried out. Results of the cylindrical implosion in air are compared with those of previous work, including the interaction of the reflected main shock wave with the contact discontinuity and the formation of a second shock wave. All these attest to the successful use of the modified Harten's TVD scheme for the simulations of shock waves arising from explosion and implosion. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of an explicit TVD scheme for unsteady,axisymmetric, muzzle brake flow

Operator splitting in the presence of source terms is necessary in order to apply Harten's second-order accurate, total-variation-diminishing (TVD), shock-capturing scheme to higher-dimensional problems. By employing Godunov boundary treatment at the muzzle brake, such splitting is applied to the problem of muzzle brake flow simulation for the case of blasts which are impeded, by vertical and slanted baffles, respectively. Results from numerical studies of various types of wall boundary condition treatment which are consistent with Harten's TVD scheme are indicated.     

Numerical simulation of silencers

The problem of attenuating the noise from weapons firing is studied experimentally and numerically. As a possible method of attenuating the noise significantly, a silencer with no internal baffles is attached to the M242 cannon. The internal pressures inside the muffler are measured. The near-field overpressures outside the muffler at various polar angles are also measured. A numerical simulation of the flow through the muffler is performed, using Harten's shock-capturing method to solve the Euler equations of ideal compressible flow. The numerical simulation yields a detailed picture of the flow field as displayed by the pressure and Mach contours. Pressure–time curves at selected locations are obtained and compared with experimental data. There is good agreement, except that the numerical simulation generates more vigorous oscillations.     

Shock wave attenuation by grids and orifice plates

The interaction of weak shock waves with porous barriers of different geometries and porosities is examined. Installing a barrier inside the shock tube test section will cause the development of the following wave pattern upon a head-on collision between the incident shock wave and the barrier: a reflected shock from the barrier and a transmitted shock propagating towards the shock tube end wall. Once the transmitted shock wave reaches the end wall it is reflected back towards the barrier. This is the beginning of multiple reflections between the barrier and the end wall. This full cycle of shock reflections/interactions resulting from the incident shock wave collision with the barrier can be studied in a single shock tube test. A one-dimensional (1D), inviscid flow model was proposed for simulating the flow resulting from the initial collision of the incident shock wave with the barrier. Fairly good agreement is found between experimental findings and simulations based on a 1D flow model. Based on obtained numerical and experimental findings an optimal design procedure for shock wave attenuator is suggested. The suggested attenuator may ensure the safety of the shelter’s ventilation systems.     

Robustness of the hybrid DRP‐WENO scheme for shock flow computations

This paper describes a new variant of hybrid scheme that is constructed by a wave‐capturing scheme and a nonoscillatory scheme for flow computations in the presence of shocks. The improved fifth‐order upwind weighted essentially nonoscillatory scheme is chosen to be conjugated with the seven‐point dispersion‐relation‐preserving scheme by means of an adaptive switch function of grid‐point type. The new hybrid scheme can achieve a better resolution than the hybrid scheme which is based on the classical weighted essentially scheme. Ami Harten's multiresolution analysis algorithm is applied to density field for detecting discontinuities and setting point values of the switch function adaptively. Moreover, the tenth‐order central filter is applied in smooth part of the flow field for damping dispersion errors. This scheme can promote overall computational efficiency and yield oscillation‐free results in shock flows. The resolution properties and robustness of the new hybrid scheme are tested in both 1D and 2D linear and nonlinear cases. It performs well for computing flow problems with rich structures of weak/strong shocks and large/small vortices, such as the shock‐boundary layer interaction problem in a shock tube, which illustrates that it is very robust and accurate for direct numerical simulation of gas‐dynamics flows. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A numerical simulation of boundary layer effects in a shock tube

A numerical scheme is used to investigate boundary layer effects in a shock tube. The method consists of a mixture of Roe's approximate Riemann solver and central differences for the convective fluxes and central differences for the viscous fluxes and is implicit in one space dimension. Comparisons are made with experimental data and with solutions obtained via boundary layer equations. Examination of the calculated flow field explains the observed behaviour and highlights the approximate nature of boundary layer solutions.     

Unsteady convective surface heat flux measurements on cylinder for CFD code validation

The surface convective heat transfer rates to a cylinder have been measured using platinum thin film gauges in a shock tube and the results have been used to validate two numerical codes. The investigations have been carried out at different incident shock Mach numbers and flow Reynolds numbers. The measured and simulated results give an insight into the transient flow fields around the model in the shock tube and are a valuable means of complementing the numerical and experimental techniques used in this study.Received: 27 August 2003, Accepted: 11 November 2003, Published online: 17 February 2004Correspondence to: T. Saito     

Formation of a jet and vortices behind a shock wave reflected from a concave body

A jet and vortices have been observed when a plane shock wave reflects from a concave body in a shock tube. If the cavity is deep enough then two reflected shocks appear near its edges. Air, carbon tetrafluoride (CF) and dichlorodifluoromethane (CClF) were chosen as test gases. The flow was visualized with the aid of a conventional shadow technique. Pressure measurements at the body surface were also obtained. Numerical studies have been conducted using a two-dimensional inviscid model. There is a good qualitative agreement between the experimental and numerical results. Received 8 February 1996 / Accepted 30 June 1997     

Flow visualization of shock/water column interactions

The breakup of a liquid droplet induced by a high speed gas stream is a typical multiphase flow problem. The shock/droplet interaction is the beginning stage of the droplet breakup. Therefore, investigation of the shock/droplet interactions would be a milestone for interpreting the mechanism of the droplet breakup. In this study, a compressible multiphase solver with a five-equation model is successfully developed to study shock/water column interactions. For code validation, interface-only, gas–gas shock tube, and gas–liquid shock tube problems are first computed. Subsequently, a planar shock wave interacting with a water column is simulated. The transmitted wave and the alternative appearances of local high- and low-pressure regions inside the water column are observed clearly. Finally, a planar shock wave interacting with two water columns is investigated. In this work, both horizontal and vertical arrangements of two water columns are studied. It is found that different arrangements can result in the diversity of the interacting process. The complex flow structures generated by shock/water column interactions are presented by flow-visualization techniques.      

A computational technique for high enthalpy shock tube and shock tunnel flow simulation

A contact discontinuity tracking method with a specially designed moving grid is developed to eliminate the interface smearing completely. In order to precisely locate the contact surface, an updated Riemann solver for unsteady one-dimensional inviscid flows is also developed to allow consideration of the specific heat ratio change across the shock wave. These two new computational techniques are illustrated in a high Mach number shock tube flow field computation. Received 30 October 1997 / Accepted 6 December 1997     

Detonation Initiation by Shock Reflection from an Orifice Plate

Results from an experimental investigation of the interaction of a “non-ideal” shock wave and a single obstacle are reported. The shock wave is produced ahead of an accelerated flame in a 14 cm inner-diameter tube partially filled with orifice plates. The shock wave interacts with a single larger blockage orifice plate placed 15–45 cm after the last orifice plate in the flame acceleration section of the tube. Experiments were performed with stoichiometric ethylene–oxygen mixtures with varying amounts of nitrogen dilution at atmospheric pressure and temperature. The critical nitrogen dilution was found for detonation initiation. It is shown that detonation initiation occurs if the chemical induction time based on the reflected shock state is shorter than the time required for an acoustic wave to traverse the orifice plate upstream surface, from the inner to the outer diameter. The similarity between the present results and those obtained from previous investigators looking at detonation initiation by ideal shock reflection produced in a shock tube indicates that the phenomenon is not sensitive to the detailed structure of the shock front but only on the average shock strength.This paper is based on work that was presented at the 20th International Colloquium on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems, Montreal, Canada, July 31–August 5, 2005.     

Attenuation of shock waves propagating in polyurethane foams

Shock wave attenuation in polyurethane foams is investigated experimentally and numerically. This study is a part of research project regarding shock propagation in polyurethane foams with high-porosities = 0.951 ~ 0.977 and low densities of ρc = 27.6 ~55.8 kg/m³. Sixty Millimeter long cylindrical foams with various cell numbers and foam insertion condition were installed in a horizontal shock tube of 50 mm i.d. and 5.4 mm in length. Results of pressure measurements in air/foam combination are compared with CFD simulation solving the one-dimensional Euler equations. In the case of a foam B fixed on shock tube wall, pressures at the shock tube end wall increases relatively slowly comparing to non-fixed foam, free to move and a foam A fixed on shock tube wall. This implies that elastic inertia hardly contributes to pressure build up. Pressures behind a foam C fixed on shock tube wall decrease indicating that shock wave is degenerated into compression wave. Dimensionless impulse and attenuation factor decrease as the initial cell number increases. The momentum loss varies depending on cell structure and cell number.     

Aerodynamic calibration of TCM2 facility and study of a bow shock layer by emission and laser spectroscopy

Flow properties in the TCM2 free piston shock tube/tunnel are determined by time-resolved pressure and heat flux measurements in numerous points of the shock tube and the nozzle, and in the free flow for two stagnation enthalpy conditions (3.5 and 11 MJ/kg). These measurements demonstrate the homogeneity of the flow during more than 1 ms. The cleanness of the useful test time is shown with time-resolved emission measurements at critical wavelengths. NO fluorescence profiles are established with local and planar laser-induced fluorescence in the shock layer around a cylindrical model. It allows to determine the shock stand-off distance for both enthalpy conditions. The problems of quenching and amplified spontaneous emission are considered. The importance of atomic oxygen and atomic nitrogen densities as well as temperature effects is also shown. Evaluation of the temperatures behind the shock front through spectroscopic data agrees with calculations. The proof of the presence of vibrationally excited NO ahead of the shock layer is given. Received 14 March 2000 / Accepted 18 June 2001     

Impact of vacuum degree on the aerodynamics of a high-speed train capsule running in a tube

Motivated by the growing scientific and engineering interest in evacuated tube railway transportation systems, in this paper we numerically study the influence of the vacuum degree on the flow field around a train capsule running in an evacuated tube with circular section. The vacuum degree is increased by lowering the nominal pressure inside the tube. The numerical simulations are fully verified by wind-tunnel experimental data of supersonic flows around a blunt body and in a scramjet combustion chamber, as well as by several numerical results in other related studies. The flow around the train capsule is characterized by a compression region in front of the train, a chocked flow near the train, and a complex highly unsteady region behind the train, where expansions waves and reflecting oblique shock waves exist. The total aerodynamic drag and the vacuum degree are found to be linearly related, revealing that lowering the nominal pressure can have a significantly beneficial effect on the aerodynamic performance of the train capsule. The aerodynamic heating due to compressibility effects and the increased pressure are more prominent along the centreline of the tube than on the tube wall. As the vacuum degree increases, the temperature and pressure differences between the front and the tail of the train and the intensity of the reflected shock waves become less significant, so that the extension of the expansion region in the train wake shortens.     

A computational study of shock speeds in high-performance shock tubes

This paper describes U2DE, a finite-volume code that numerically solves the Euler equations. The code was used to perform multi-dimensional simulations of the gradual opening of a primary diaphragm in a shock tube. From the simulations, the speed of the developing shock wave was recorded and compared with other estimates. The ability of U2DE to compute shock speed was confirmed by comparing numerical results with the analytic solution for an ideal shock tube. For high initial pressure ratios across the diaphragm, previous experiments have shown that the measured shock speed can exceed the shock speed predicted by one-dimensional models. The shock speeds computed with the present multi-dimensional simulation were higher than those estimated by previous one-dimensional models and, thus, were closer to the experimental measurements. This indicates that multi-dimensional flow effects were partly responsible for the relatively high shock speeds measured in the experiments. Received 15 November 1996 / Accepted 3 February 1997     

Shock wave propagation into a surface depression

An aircraft travelling at supersonic speeds close to the ground generates a bow wave which is reflected off the ground surface. If a valley is traversed a complex reflection pattern will be generated. Similar patterns will evolve with a plane wave traversing a depression on a surface or structure. To simulate the process a planar shock wave, generated in a shock tube, is moved over several notched wedge configurations. Schlieren photographs were produced to assist in identifying the resulting complex three-dimensional wave structures and then verified and extended by three- dimensional computations. The valley geometries investigated are rectangular, triangular, parabolic and conical with a number of valley floor inclinations. The main features are extracted in surface models to demonstrate the complexity of the flow, and in particular in the case where the reflection is regular on the ground plane and Mach reflection in the valley.      

Shock wave propagation in a branched duct

The propagation of a planar shock wave in a 90° branched duct is studied experimentally and numerically. It is shown that the interaction of the transmitted shock wave with the branching segment results in a complex, two-dimensional unsteady flow. Multiple shock wave reflections from the duct's walls cause weakening of transmitted waves and, at late times, an approach to an equilibrium, one-dimensional flow. While at most places along the branched duct walls calculated pressures are lower than that existing behind the original incident shock wave, at the branching segment's right corner, where a head on-collision between the transmitted wave and the corner is experienced, pressures that are significantly higher than those existing behind the original incident shock wave are encountered. The numerically evaluated pressures can be accepted with confidence, due to the very good agreement found between experimental and numerical results with respect to the geometry of the complex wave pattern observed inside the branched duct. Received 15 July 1996 / Accepted 20 February 1997     

Modified Multidimensional Dissipation Scheme on Unstructured Meshes for High-speed Compressible Flow Analysis

A Roe's flux-difference splitting scheme, combining with the entropy fix method according to Van Leer et al., and the H-correction entropy fix method by Pandolfi and D'Ambrosio, is proposed. The presented scheme eliminates unphysical flow behaviors such as a spurious bump of the carbuncle phenomenon that occurs on the bow shock from flow over a blunt body, and the expansion shock generated from flow over a forward facing step. The proposed scheme is further extended to obtain high-order spatial and temporal solution accuracy. The scheme is, in addition, combined with an adaptive meshing technique that generates unstructured triangular meshes to resemble the flow phenomena for reducing computational effort. The entire procedure is evaluated by solving several benchmarks as well as complex steady-state and transient high-speed compressible flow problems.     

Moving shocks through metallic grids: their interaction and potential for blast wave mitigation

Numerical simulations and laboratory measurements have been used to illuminate the interaction of a moving shock wave impacting on metallic grids at various shock strengths and grid solidities. The experimental work was carried out in a large scale shock tube facility while computational work simulated the flow field with a time-dependent inviscid and a time-dependent viscous model. The pressure drop measured across the grids is a result of two phenomena which are associated with the impact of the shock on the metallic grids. First are the reflection and refraction of the incoming shock on the grid itself. This appears to be the main inviscid mechanism associated with the reduction of the strength of the transmitted shock. Second, viscous phenomena are present during the reflection and refraction of the wave as well as during the passage of the induced flow of the air through the grid. The experimental data of pressure drop across the grid obtained in the present investigation are compared with those obtained from computations. The numerical results slightly overpredict the experimental data of relative pressure drop which increases substantially with grid solidity at fixed flow Mach numbers. The processes of shock reflection and refraction are continuous and they can be extended in duration by using thicker grids that will result in lower compression rates of the structural loading and increase the viscous losses associated with these phenomena which will further attenuate the impacting shock. Preliminary theoretical analysis suggests that the use of a graded porosity/solidity material will result in higher pressure drop than a constant porosity/solidity material and thus provide effective blast mitigation.