Propagation of Detonations Through Composition and Reaction Stratification

High-resolution Adaptive Mesh Refined simulations are utilized to study the propagation behavior of ethylene-air detonation waves through mixtures with composition and reaction stratification. In the case of zero reaction stratification, the detonation wave speeds are found to largely match predictions, whereas in the presence of reaction stratification, increases in wave speed are found in preburned regions while decreases in wave speed are found afterwards. Induction lengths are shown to oscillate between predicted values when no reaction stratification is present, but exhibit strong decoupling followed by re-ignition events in the presence of reaction stratification. Finally, domain averaged heat release rates are shown to reach a maximum at the start of each homogeneous rich mixture without reaction stratification, but reach a maximum near the end of each homogeneous rich mixture in the presence of reaction stratification.