Numerical comparison of hydrogen-air reaction mechanisms for unsteady shock-induced combustion applications

An unsteady shock-induced combustion (SIC) is characterized by the regularly oscillating combustion phenomenon behind the shock wave supported by the blunt projectile flying around the speed of Chapman-Jouguet detonation wave. The SIC is the coupling phenomenon between the hypersonic flow and the chemical kinetics, but the effects of chemical kinetics have been rarely reported. We compared hydrogen-air reaction mechanisms for the shock-induced combustion to demonstrate the importance of considering the reaction mechanisms for such complex flows. Seven hydrogen-air reaction mechanisms were considered, those available publically and used in other researches. As a first step in the comparison of the hydrogen combustion, ignition delay time of hydrogen-oxygen mixtures was compared at various initial conditions. Laminar premixed flame speed was also compared with available experimental data and at high pressure conditions. In addition, half-reaction length of ZND (Zeldovich-Neumann-Doring) detonation structure accounts for the length scale in SIC phenomena. Oscillation frequency of the SIC is compared by running the time-accurate 3rd-order Navier-Stokes CFD code fully coupled with the detailed chemistry by using four levels of grid resolutions.