Academician O. G. Penyazkov, Dr. Sci. (Physical-and-Mathematical) is a well-known specialist in the field of high temperature physics, gas dynamics, physics of combustion and explosion.
The main direction of his research is thermal physical and elementary processes in heterogeneous chemical reacting media and plasma. Academician O. G. Penyazkov obtained a number of essentially new results on the evolution of the structure and distribution of parameters in the waves of gas detonation, proposed and substantiated quantitative criteria for determining the limits of stable and unstable detonations and supersonic deflagration in pipes that make possible to estimate the composition and initial conditions necessary for their implementation, studied non-classical modes of distribution and initiation of detonation in porous media and spaces.
Under his supervision a unique equipment for studies of the kinetics, modes of ignition, combustion, gas and liquid fuels has been created; kinetic characteristics of the oxidation of methane, propane, ethylene, benzene, hexane, deacane, aviation kerosene, cetane, heptamethylnonane, diesel fuel, synthesis of gas and hydrogen in the air in a wide range of pressures and temperatures have been determined; the kinetics of formation and growth of carbon particles during pyrolysis of acetylene, ethylene, propane and methane in the temperature range from 1500 to 4000 K has been examined.
The mechanisms and modes of gas ignition under non-uniform conditions of the interaction of shock waves with three-dimensional surfaces of various geometries have been specified. For the surface of each species the critical thermodynamic parameters responsible for the implementation of various combustion modes have been determined. Original methods of optical and contact diagnostics of fast processes, including the ones in turbulent reacting flows and in low-temperature plasma have been proposed and developed.
Academician O. G. Penyazkov is the author of over 270 scientific publications, a member of the International Combustion Institute, the International Institute of Shock Waves, the International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer, the Board of Directors of the International Institute for Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems. He is the Editor-in-Chief of such journals as Journal of Engineering Physics and Thermophysics and Heat Transfer Research.
