Effects of perturbing the particle volume fraction distribution in blast-driven multiphase instability

• DOI: 10.1007/s00193-021-01023-9
• Publication Date: 2021-07-19T11:03:01Z
• Authors: F. Ouellet; B. Rollin; R. B. Koneru; J. Garno; S. Balachandar
• Keywords: Particle (ecology); Multiphase flow; Blast wave

The evolution of a particle cloud following its interactions with a blast wave and contact interface resulting from a detonating high-energy explosive is a difficult problem for both numerical simulations and physical experiments. In experiments, it is challenging to accurately characterize both the initial states of the explosive and the surrounding particle bed. There are also limitations in the available diagnostic tools and measurable data which can be extracted from the experiments. Thus, simulations are a cheaper alternative where the physics governing the interactions between the expanding particle cloud and the highly compressible, post-detonation fluid flow can be analyzed. Using multiphase, compressible flow simulations in an Eulerian–Lagrangian frame, the impact of introducing perturbations to a particle bed surrounding an explosive charge is studied. The analysis focuses on the multiphase instabilities and late-time behavior displayed by the particle cloud and discusses the associated underlying physical phenomena. The effects of these instabilities on the behavior of the mixing between the detonation products and the surrounding air are also discussed. The perturbations are varied to reveal the effects of the initial particle distribution and its persistence in the later-time particle cloud and the background fluid flow.