Numerical simulations of pulsating detonations: II. Piston initiated detonations

Extremely long time, high-resolution one-dimensional numerical simulations are performed in order to investigate the evolution of pulsating detonations initiated and driven by a constant velocity piston, or equivalently by shock reflection from a stationary wall. The results are compared and contrasted to previous simulations where the calculations are initiated by placing a steady detonation on the numerical grid. The motion of the piston eventually produces a highly overdriven detonation propagating into the quiescent fuel. The detonation subsequently decays in a quasi-steady manner towards the steady state corresponding to the given piston speed. For cases where the steady state is one-dimensionally unstable, the shock pressure begins to oscillate with a growing amplitude once the detonation speed drops below a stability boundary. However, the overdrive is still being degraded by a rarefaction which overtakes the front, but on a time-scale which is very long compared with both the reaction time and the period of oscillation. As the overdrive decreases, the detonation becomes more unstable as it propagates and the nature (e.g. period and amplitude) of the oscillations change with time. If the steady detonation is very unstable then the oscillations evolve in time from limit cycle to period doubled oscillations and finally to irregular oscillations. The ultimate nature of the oscillations asymptotically approaches that of the saturated nonlinear behaviour as found from calculations initiated by the steady state. However, the nonlinear stability of the steady detonation investigated in previous calculations represents only the very late time (O(10⁵) characteristic reaction times) behaviour of the piston problem.