Luis Gutiérrez Marcantoni

This work presents a systematic validation and benchmarking of an open-source numerical procedure for the assessment of blast loads and their interaction with rigid structures. The computational framework, based on the Kurganov–Noelle–Petrova (KNP) central-upwind scheme within OpenFOAM’s rhoCentralFoam solver, is evaluated against analytical solutions (Sedov theory), empirical guidelines (UFC-3-340-02), and experimental data, demonstrating its capability to accurately capture key engineering parameters, including shock wave overpressures, arrival times, reflected impulses, and Mach stem formation. The procedure covers spherical, cylindrical, and hemispherical explosions, showing discrepancies below 10% for reflected pressures and 5% for arrival times in far-field domains. A particular emphasis is placed on industrial applications, such as predicting overpressures on tank walls, where the methodology reliably reproduces complex wave interactions observed in experiments. This work offers a robust and accessible opensource computational tool for the analysis and design of protective rigid solid surfaces in high-risk environments.

Detonation phenomena in reactive flow systems continue to pose significant challenges for accurate simulation, particularly in 3D validation against experiments and achieving community standardization for schemes. Among the primary difficulties is the selection of suitable convective schemes, which are essential for capturing the complex dynamics of wave propagation and reaction fronts. This study provides a comprehensive historical review of the development and implementation of convective schemes in OpenFOAM, covering the period from 2013 to the present. In addition to documenting the evolution of these methods, we present a detailed technical description of various convective approximation techniques used in detonation simulations within OpenFOAM. This includes an exploration of their underlying principles, advantages, and limitations. Our analysis synthesizes key findings from recent studies and offers practical guidance to researchers when choosing schemes for specific detonation scenarios. It is found that currently, within OpenFOAM, the dominant schemes for convection are the HLLC and KN.

In this current study, we developed a second-order Kurganov–Tadmor scheme in curvilinear coordinates to analyze the external supersonic flow over bodies of various shapes. This scheme is capable of handling interfaces across different regions of the domain. We utilized a fourth-order Runge–Kutta temporal integrator and conducted several test cases to validate the performance of the new scheme. The results from the analyzed tests indicate that the new method produces highly accurate outcomes.

This work studies the impact of a shock wave traveling with non-constant velocity over straight surfaces, generating an unsteady and complex reflection process. Two types of shock waves generated by sudden energy released are studied: cylindrical and spherical. Several numerical tests were developed considering different distances between the shock wave origin and the reflecting surface. The Kurganov, Noelle, and Petrova (KNP) scheme implemented in the rhoCentralFoam solver of the OpenFOAM^TM software is used to reproduce the different shock wave reflections and their transitions. The numerical simulations of the reflected angle, Mach number of the shock wave, and position of the triple point are compared with pseudo-steady theory numerical and experimental studies. The numerical results show good accuracy for the reflected angle and minor differences for the Mach number. However, the triple point position is more difficult to predict. The KNP scheme in the form used in this work demonstrates the ability to capture the phenomena involved in the unsteady reflections.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), through high-performance computing and robust codes, has proven to be an invaluable tool for the simulation of combustion processes, ranging from low speed diffusive flames up to detonations. This work intends to provide a review of details needed in modeling as Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS), large eddy simulation (LES) or Detached eddy simulation (DES) energy equation in CFD codes used for solving chemically reacting turbulent flows. When the density is variable, traditional Reynolds averages introduce many open correlations between any quantity f and density fluctuations 0f0 which are difficult to close. Therefore, Favre’s mass-weighted average technique must be preferred.