Fast subsonic combustion as a free-interface problem

  • Peter V. Gordon

    University of Chicago, USA
  • Leonid S. Kagan

    Tel-Aviv University, Israel
  • Gregory I. Sivashinsky

    Tel-Aviv University, Israel

Abstract

The paper is concerned with the recently identified fast, yet subsonic, combustion waves occurring in obstacle-laden (e.g. porous) systems and driven not by thermal diffusivity but rather by the drag-induced diffusion of pressure. In the framework of a quasi-one-dimensional formulation where the impact of obstacles is accounted for through a frictional drag term, an asymptotic expression for the wave propagation velocity is derived. The propagation velocity is controlled by the temperature at the entrance to the reaction zone rather than at its exit as occurs in deflagrative combustion. The evaluated dependence allows description of the subsonic detonation in terms of a free-interface problem. The latter is found to be dynamically akin to the problem of gasless combustion known for its rich pattern-forming dynamics.

Cite this article

Peter V. Gordon, Leonid S. Kagan, Gregory I. Sivashinsky, Fast subsonic combustion as a free-interface problem. Interfaces Free Bound. 5 (2003), no. 1, pp. 47–62

DOI 10.4171/IFB/71