Initiation of an Oblique Detonation Wave over a Wedge and a Cone

This paper presents the effects of planarity and axisymmetry on the formation of an oblique detonation wave. This is achieved by means of Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations over a wedge and cone geometries. Both ramps share the same length and turn angles to allow a comparison of the flow fields. A non-reacting case is performed for each configuration before enabling the reactions, based on a 19 steps combustion mechanism. Both test articles are assumed to be propagating in a high altitude free stream with an incoming Mach number of 8.5, a static pressure of 54 kPa and a static temperature of 255 K. The formation of the oblique detonation wave is monitored during the unsteady simulations to assess induction length scales, which are found to increase for the axisymmetric simulations. Similarly, the structure of the oblique detonation over the cone is found to exhibit larger detonation cells.