Subcontinuum structures of reactive shock waves in gaseous H2/O2 mixtures

T Maurel-Oujia and K Maeda, PHYSICAL REVIEW FLUIDS, 10, 103201 (2025).

DOI: 10.1103/y7lz-563m

We present a molecular dynamics simulation of a Mach 5 reactive shock wave in a stoichiometric gaseous H2/O2 mixture. H2 is compressed slightly ahead of O2 to form two separate shock fronts. Chemical reactions initiate during the O2 compression, followed by a postdetonation flow exhibiting a Zeldovich-von Neumann-D & ouml;ring- like structure. To analyze the shock substructure, the profiles of state variables near the shock and the postshock particle velocities of molecules are compared with those of a synthetic, inert shock wave. The results indicate that the small H2 to O2 mass ratio causes the separation of shock fronts regardless of chemistry, like those observed in rarefied binary gases, and the velocities of the species relax before leaving the shock region, characterizing the nonequilibrium H2/O2 shock dynamics so that reactions are present but not as active as they were without the separation.

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