Onset of the Mach Reflection of Zel’dovich–von Neumann–Döring Detonations

The present study investigates the similarity problem associated with the onset of the Mach reflection of Zel’dovich–von Neumann–Döring (ZND) detonations in the near field. The results reveal that the self-similarity in the frozen-limit regime is strictly valid only within a small scale, i.e., of the order of the induction length. The Mach reflection becomes non-self-similar during the transition of the Mach stem from “frozen” to “reactive” by coupling with the reaction zone. The triple-point trajectory first rises from the self-similar result due to compressive waves generated by the “hot spot”, and then decays after establishment of the reactive Mach stem. It is also found, by removing the restriction, that the frozen limit can be extended to a much larger distance than expected. The obtained results elucidate the physical origin of the onset of Mach reflection with chemical reactions, which has previously been observed in both experiments and numerical simulations.