Numerical Simulations of DDT Limits in Hydrogen-Air Mixtures in Obstacle Laden Channel

The main aim of this study was to perform numerical simulations of deflagration to detonation transition process (DDT) in hydrogen–air mixtures and assess the capabilities of freeware open-source ddtFoam code to simulate and capture DDT limits. The numerical geometry was based on the real 0.08 × 0.11 × 4 m (H × W × L), rectangular cross-section detonation channel previously used to experimentally investigate DDT limits in obstacle-filled channel. The constant blockage ratio (BR) equal to 0.5 was kept for three obstacle spacing configurations: S = H, 2H, 3H. The results showed that hydrogen concentration limits for successful DDT from simulations are close to the experimental values, however, the simulated DDT limits range is wider than the experimental one and depends on the obstacles spacing. The numerical results were analyzed by means of propagation velocities, overpressures, and run-up distances. The best match between numerical and experimental DDT limits was observed for obstacles spacing L = 3H and the lowest match for spacing L = H. The comparison between experimental and numerical results points at the possible application of ddtFoam in geometry with a relatively low level of congestion. This work results proved that simulations in such geometry provide numerical flame acceleration velocity profiles, run-up distance, and recorded overpressures very close to experimentally measured.