SURF Model Resolution in xRage Code

Abstract

A key issue for detonation wave simulations with a reactive burn model is the resolution needed for the reaction zone. The reaction-zone width is a physical length scale. For plastic-bonded explosives, it is small (on the order of 100 microns) but affects important detonation properties such as the detonation speed. Even with adaptive mesh refinement, a well resolved reaction zone is computationally expensive. Here we consider the trade-off between computational expense and accuracy when the resolution of the reaction zone is varied for simulations with the xRage code of PBX 9501 with the SURF burn model and of PBX 9502 with the SURFplus burn model. For assessing shock initiation, the numerical Pop plot is simulated, and for assessing propagating detonation waves, the cylinder test is used as a test problem. The reaction-zone resolution is varied from a cell size of 6.25 to 200 microns, and key properties of the solutions are compared. With 6 micron resolution, the numerical solution is near mesh converged and can be used to judge the accuracy of the coarser resolution simulations. For the propagating detonation wave in the cylinder test, at 200 microns the detonation speed is low by a couple of per cent. In terms of cpu-hours, the finest resolution is about a factor of 100 more expensive than the coarsest resolution.