Two-Dimensional Numerical Simulation of Gas–Solid Reactive Flow with Moving Boundary

Abstract

In order to combine the advantages of both the Lagrangian and Eulerian algorithm for a moving boundary, this work presents a two-dimensional axisymmetric computational model in ALE (arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian) forms for the gas–solid transient reacting flow with a moving boundary of the interior ballistic process. A two-phase flow model is established to describe the complex physical process based on a modified two-fluid theory, which takes into account gas production, interphase drag, intergranular stress, and heat transfer between two phases. The governing equations are discretized with the TVD-type MUSCL scheme to obtain a second-order accurate numerical method in finite volume form and solved by the semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equations with density corrections. A dynamic self-adapting mesh update method is developed to expand the computational domain for projectile motion and reduce the computational cost. Several verification tests demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of this approach. A pressure-driven projectile case is used to demonstrate the coupling of the moving projectile with gas dynamics. The application on a real gun shows an excellent agreement between numerical simulation and experimental measurements. Numerical results provide a deeper understanding of the interior ballistic process, including gas production, flame spreading, and pressure wave developing, etc. By applying the ALE technique to two-phase reactive flows with moving boundary, it is be able to take advantage of the best aspects of both Lagrangian and Eulerian approaches. This new method is reliable as a predictive tool for the study of the physical phenomenon and can therefore be used as an assessment tool for future interior ballistics studies.

Keywords:

• Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian approach
• Computational fluid dynamics
• Interior ballistic
• Moving boundary
• Two-phase reactive flow

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20131348) and Key Laboratory Foundation of the People’s Republic of China (Grant No. 9140C300206120C30110).