Oblique Detonation Wave Control with O3 and H2O2 Sensitization in Hypersonic Flow

Abstract

This numerical study investigates the effects of adding a small amount of ignition promoters for controlling the wedge-induced oblique shock wave (OSW) to oblique detonation wave (ODW) transition in a premixed hydrogen–air mixture at hypersonic speeds. The time-dependent two-dimensional compressible Euler equations for multiple thermally perfect species with a reactive source term are solved using adaptive mesh refinement and detailed chemical kinetics. The wedge with a fixed angle of 26° exhibits abrupt to smooth transitions for freestream Mach numbers 7–9 (speeds 2.8–3.2 km/s) at a pressure of 20 kPa and a temperature of 300 K. The small amount (1000 PPM by vol.) of H2O2 and O3 is found to be effective at significantly reducing the initiation length for the oblique detonation transition for all Mach numbers, which suggests a practical approach to increase the operating flight range for oblique detonation wave engine with a finite length wedge. At Mach number 8, the abrupt OSW to ODW transition turns towards a smooth transition with a small amount of H2O2 and O3 addition. Comparatively, O3 addition was found to be effective in reducing the ODW initiation length by promoting reactivity behind even a weaker oblique shock at low Mach number 7, for abrupt transition, while H2O2 addition was more effective than O3 at high Mach numbers 8 and 9, during a smooth transition. The maximum 73% and 80% reduction in initiation length of ODW was observed with 10,000 PPM H2O2 and O3 addition, respectively, during an abrupt OSW to ODW transition at Mach 7.