SUMMARY

For over a century the study of detonation waves has intrigued the minds of scientists and engineers. The rapid and violent combustion of a detonation involves a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock wave. This extreme event not only occurs here on Earth, but can occur on cosmological distances and are an astronomical phenomenon of unprecedented proportions. Over the past 50 years, significant progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms of such physics. Both experiments and numerical simulations have been used to study detonation waves to uncover the structure and dynamics of such phenomena, though most work has focused on homogeneous premixed mixtures. Changing application requirements are now driving studies on non-premixed gaseous detonation and the effects non-homogeneity has on the structure and dynamics of the wave front. Recently experiments on rotating detonation engines (RDE) where a high speed non-premixed injection system is employed in order to sustain a propagating detonation have been conducted by many researchers. Further understanding of the flow physics is required to aid with combustor design. Computational studies can be used to complement the experiments but several issues must first be addressed before confidence is placed in numerical tools. Especially promising is the use of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) as a tool to understand the flow physics and its use as a predictive tool. This work proposes to improve the understanding of non-premixed detonation waves. Specifically, using LES, this work will assess the effects of fuel distribution and mixing on the formation and propagation of a detonation.