Dynamic processes of detonation waves propagating through a 60° smooth pipe bend

Implicit-explicit additive Runge-Kutta (ARK) methods and 5-th order weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) schemes are employed to simulate on cellular detonation wave propagating through a smooth pipe bend with a 60° bending angle. A detailed elementary chemical reaction model comprised of 9 species and 48 elementary reactions is implemented with a stoichiometric H₂-O₂ mixture diluted with argon. The numerical results show that in the bend, diffraction near the inner wall causes the pressure decrease resulting in both the growth of detonation cell size and detonation failure, but near the outer wall detonation reflection diminishes the cell size. A transition length of about 0.45 m long exists before the detonation regains its regularity after leaving the bend. There are two different modes of reflection due to different turning angles. The transverse detonation waves evolve into a detonation owing to continuous compression by other transverse waves running after at the end of the bend.