MODELING SUPERSONIC COMBUSTION USING A FULLY IMPLICIT NUMERICAL-METHOD

A fully implicit, finite volume algorithm for two-dimensional axisymmetric flows has been coupled to a detailed hydrogen-air reaction mechanism (13 species and 33 reactions) so that supersonic combustion phenomena may be investigated. Numerical computations are compared with ballistic-range shadowgraphs of a blunt body as it passes through a premixed stoichiometric hydrogen-air mixture at Mach 5.11 and 6.46. The suitability of the numerical procedure for simulating these flows is shown. The requirements for the physical formulation and the numerical modeling of these flowfields are discussed. Finally, the sensitivity of these external flowfields to changes in certain key reaction rate constants is examined, and the contributions that ballistic-range data can make toward verification of a chemical reaction mechanism is demonstrated.