A study of magnetoplasmadynamic effects in turbulent supersonic flows with application to detonation and explosion

Explosions are a common phenomena in the Universe. Beginning with the Big Bang, one could say the history of the Universe is narrated by a series of explosions. Yet no matter how large, small, or complex, all explosions occur through a series of similar physical processes beginning with their initiation to their dynamical interaction with the environment. Of particular interest to this study is how these processes are modified in a magnetized medium. The role of the magnetic field is investigated in two scenarios. The first scenario addresses how a magnetic field alters the propagation of a gaseous detonation where the application of interest is the modification of a condensed-phase explosion. The second scenario is focused on the aftermath of the explosion event and addresses how fluid mixing changes in a magnetized medium. A primary focus of this thesis is the development of a numerical tool capable of simulating explosive phenomenon in a magnetized medium. While the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations share many of the mathematical characteristics of the hydrodynamic equations, numerical methods developed for the conservation equations of a magnetized plasma are complicated by the requirement that the magnetic field must be divergent free. The advantages and disadvantages of the proposed method are discussed in relation to explosion applications.

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Aerospace Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Georgia Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Schulz, Joseph C.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Menon, Suresh

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Wise, John
• Walker, Mitchell
• Sun, Wenting
• Lieuwen, Tim

• Magnetohydrodynamics
• Detonation
• Fluid instability
• Numerical methods

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1853/53971

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.gatech.edu:1853/53971