The interactions of a spherical flame with an incident shock wave and its reflected shock wave in a confined space were investigated using the three-dimensional reactive Navier-Stokes equations, with emphasis placed on the effect of chemical reactivity of mixture on the flame distortion and detonation initiation after the passage of the reflected shock wave. It is shown that the spatio-temporal characteristics of detonation initiation depend highly on the chemi- cal reactivity of the mixture. When the chemical reactivity enhances, the flame can be severely distorted to form a reactive shock bifurcation structure with detonations initiating at different three-dimensional spatial locations. Moreover, the detonation initiation would occur earlier in a mixture of more enhanced reactivity. The results reveal that the detona- tions arise from hot spots in the unburned region which are initiated by the shock-detonation-transition mechanism.
