Piloted ignition delay of PMMA in space exploration atmospheres

In order to reduce the risk of decompression sickness associated with extra-vehicular activity (EVA), NASA is designing the next generation of exploration vehicles and habitats with a different cabin environment than used previously. The proposed environment uses a total cabin pressure of 52.7–58.6 kPa with an oxygen concentration of 30–34% by volume and was chosen with material flammability in mind. Because materials may burn differently under these conditions and there is little information on how this new environment affects the flammability of the materials onboard, it is important to conduct material flammability experiments at the intended exploration atmosphere. One method to evaluate material flammability is by its ease of ignition. To this end, piloted ignition delay tests were conducted in the Forced Ignition and Spread Test (FIST) apparatus subject to this new environment. In these tests, polymethylmethacylate (PMMA) was exposed to a range of oxidizer flow velocities and externally applied heat fluxes. Tests were conducted for a baseline case of normal pressure and oxygen concentration, low pressure (58.6 kPa) with normal oxygen (21%), and low pressure with 32% oxygen concentration conditions to determine the individual effect of pressure and the combined effect of pressure and oxygen concentration on the ignition delay. It was found that reducing the pressure while keeping the oxygen concentration at 21% reduced the ignition time by 17% on average. Increasing the oxygen concentration at low pressures reduced the ignition time by an additional 10%. It was also noted that the critical heat flux for ignition decreases at exploration atmospheres. These results show that tests conducted in standard atmospheric conditions will underpredict the ignition of materials intended for use on spacecraft and that, at these conditions, materials are more susceptible to ignition than at current spacecraft atmospheres.     

Theoretical Calculation on the Piloted Ignition of PMMA

This study presents the comparison of the experimental results and theoretical predictions of the piloted ignition of black PMMA. The model for theoretical calculations included heat, momentum, mass transfer equations and reaction kinetics both in the gas phase and the solid phase, to comprehensively describe the piloted ignition. The experimental samples were thick black PMMA pieces, with the ignition time and the critical surface temperatures at ignition measured using a cone heater under different external radiation heat fluxes. The predictions from the calculations showed good agreement with the experiment at high heat flux, but the deviation was distinct at low heat fluxes, especially for the critical surface temperatures. The fail of the prediction at low heat fluxes was regarded, by analysis, as the result of the neglecting of the decomposition energy term of PMMA in the energy balance equation.     

Analytical study of stretched ultra-lean premixed flames within porous inert media

It has been shown both theoretically and experimentally that combustion within porous inert media can extend the flammability limits of reactant mixtures for unstretched stationary premixed flames. However little attention has been given to flames within porous media submitted to stretch conditions. This work presents a closed form approximate analytical solution for the problem of ultra-lean premixed flames within porous inert media subjected to small stretch rates in an impinging flow configuration against a constant temperature wall. The solution is obtained using the method of matched asymptotic expansions taking advantage of the large difference between the solid- and gas-phase thermal conductivities. The model allows for thermal nonequilibrium between the phases and is able to predict the flame temperature, velocity and position as function of the stretch rate. The results show that within porous media low stretch rates may increase the flame temperature, further extending the lean flammability limit of the reactant mixture when compared to planar flames. The model is restricted to low porosities, low stretch rates, low heat losses and intense interphase heat transfer.     

Dynamics and burning limits of near-limit hot,warm, and cool diffusion flames of dimethyl ether at elevated pressures

The near-limit diffusion flame regimes and extinction limits of dimethyl ether at elevated pressures and temperatures are examined numerically in the counterflow geometry with and without radiation at different oxygen concentrations. It is found that there are three different flame regimes—hot flame, warm flame, and cool flame—which exist, respectively, at high, intermediate, and low temperatures. Furthermore, they are governed by three distinct chain-branching reaction pathways. The results demonstrate that the warm flame has a double reaction zone structure and plays a critical role in the transition between cool and hot flames. It is also shown that the cool flame can be formed in several different ways: by either radiative extinction or stretch extinction of a hot flame or by stretch extinction of a warm flame. A warm flame can also be formed by radiative extinction of a hot flame or ignition of a cool flame. A general €-shaped flammability diagram showing the burning limits of all three flame regimes at different oxygen mole fractions is obtained. The results show that thermal radiation, reactant concentration, temperature, and pressure all have significant impacts on the flammable regions of the three flame regimes. Increases in oxidizer temperature, oxygen concentration, and pressure shift the cool flame regime to higher stretch rates and cause the warm flame to have two extinction limits. At elevated temperatures, it is found that there is a direct transition between the hot flame and warm flame at low stretch rates. The results also show that, unlike the hot flame, the cool flame structure cannot be scaled by using pressure-weighted stretch rates due to the its significant reactant leakage and strong dependence of reactivity on pressure. The present results advance the understanding of near-limit flame dynamics and provide guidance for experimental observation of different flame regimes.     

Extinction and flame bifurcations of stretched dimethyl ether premixed flames

Extinction limits and flame bifurcation of lean premixed dimethyl ether–air flames are numerically investigated using the counterflow flame with a reduced chemistry. Emphasis is paid to the combined effect of radiation and flame stretch on the extinction and flammability limits. A method based on the reaction front is presented to predict the Markstein length. The predicted positive Markstein length agrees well with the experimental data. The results show that flow stretch significantly reduces the flame speed and narrows the flammability limit of the stretched dimethyl ether–air flame. It is found that the combined effect of radiation and flow stretch results in a new flame bifurcation and multiple flame regimes. At an equivalence ratio slightly higher than the flammability limit of the planar flame, the distant flame regime appears at low stretch rates. With an increase in the equivalence ratio, in addition to the distant flame, a weak flame isola emerges at moderate stretch rates. With a further increase in the equivalence ratio, the distant flame and the weak flame branches merge together, resulting in the splitting of the weak flame branch into two weak flame branches, one at low stretch and the other at high stretch. Flame stability analysis demonstrates that the high stretch weak flame is also stable. Furthermore, a K-shaped flammability limit diagram showing various flame regimes and their extinction limits is obtained.     

弱点火条件下炸药燃烧转爆轰的数值模拟

考察颗粒炸药从传导燃烧到对流燃烧再到爆轰的过程.对装填密度为85%的HMX颗粒炸药的燃烧转爆轰过程进行数值模拟,分析传导燃烧、对流燃烧和爆轰的发展过程.点火早期燃烧速度很低,火焰面在8.16 ms之内只前进了不到0.2 mm;形成对流燃烧之后燃烧速度快速增加,只用了0.1 ms就形成了速度为8 165 m·s^-1的稳定爆轰.当炸药颗粒直径或点火压力减小时,形成稳定爆轰所需的时间增加.     

Piloted ignition of solid fuels at low ambient pressure and varying igniter location

In order to investigate the effects of ambient pressure and igniter location on piloted ignition of solid fuels, the ignition mass flux of PMMA was experimentally determined for locations of the igniter between 6 and 70 mm above the solid surface, under two external heat fluxes of 21.2 and 25.4 kW/m². The experimental results show that the ignition mass flux decreases as the igniter approached the solid surface until it reached a minimum, and then the ignition mass flux remains nearly constant followed by a slight increase with a further decrease of the igniter location. In addition, in another series of experiments the ignition mass flux for elm wood decreases by a factor 0.6 at reduced pressure 0.67 (Tibet 0.67 atm) compared to the ignition mass flux at normal pressure (Hefei, 1.0 atm). The results of this work are explained well by a numerical piloted ignition model which also explains recent observations on the ignition mass flux at reduced pressures in a forced-flow ignition and flame spread apparatus.     

Nonane droplet combustion with and without buoyant convection: Flame structure, burning rate and extinction in air and helium

The burning and extinction characteristics of isolated small nonane droplets are examined in a buoyant convective environment and in an environment with no external axial convection (as created by doing experiments at low gravity) to promote spherical droplet flames. The ambience is air and a mixture of 30%O₂/70%He to assess the influence of soot formation. The initial droplet diameter (D_o) ranges from 0.4 to 0.95 mm. Measurements are reported of the extinction diameter and time to extinction, and of the evolution of droplet diameter, flame diameter, soot shell diameter, burning rate, and broadband radiative emissions.In a buoyancy-free environment for air larger droplets burn slower than smaller droplets for the range of D_o examined, which is attributed to the influence of soot. In the presence of a buoyant flow in air, no influence of D_o is observed on the burning rate while the buoyant flames are still heavily sooting. The effect of D_o is believed to be due to a combination of dominance of the nonluminous, nonsooting, portion of the buoyant flame around the forward half of the droplet on heat transport and the secondary role of the luminous wake portion of the flame. In a non-sooting helium inert at low gravity, no effect of D_o is found on the evolution of droplet diameter.Flame extinction is observed only in the 30%O₂/70%He ambience. For all of the observations, extinction appears to occur before the disappearance of the droplet which is then followed by a period of evaporation. The extinction diameter and time to extinction increases with D_o and an empirical correlation is presented for these two variables.     

Evolution of flame to surface heat flux during upward flame spread on poly(methyl methacrylate)

The heat feedback profile across 5 cm wide and 15 cm tall samples of poly(methyl methacrylate) was studied from ignition until total sample involvement as a flame spread vertically upward. Incident heat flux to a water-cooled gauge was measured at 1 cm intervals. At 6–15 cm above the bottom edge of the flame, the maximum heat flux value was found to be on the order of 35 kW m^?2. Lower in the sample, 2–5 cm above the flame bottom, where the flame is thinner and thus closer to the sample’s surface, the maximum heat flux is slightly higher, about 40 kW m^?2. Using these results and finely resolved measurements of sample burning rate recorded throughout the length of experiments, an analytical model that accurately predicts the measured heat flux profile along the vertical dimension of samples solely as a function of the burning rate was developed. Coupling this model with an accurate pyrolysis solver, which predicts material burning rate based on incident heat flux, is expected to enable highly accurate simulations of the flame spread dynamics.     

Reduction of flammability of ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene by using triphenyl phosphate additives

The mechanism of reducing the flammability of ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) with triphenyl phosphate (TPP) additives was investigated, using the methods of molecular-beam mass spectrometry (MBMS), differential mass spectrometric thermal analysis (DMSTA), thermocouple, thermogravimetry (TGA), and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Kinetics of thermal degradation of pure UHMWPE and of that mixed with TPP was studied at high (～150 K/s) and low (0.17 K/s) heating rates at atmospheric pressure. Effective values of the rate constants of the thermal degradation reaction were determined. Times of ignition delay, the limiting oxygen index, the burning rates of UHMWPE and UHMWPE + TPP and their temperature profiles in the flames were measured. The flame structure was investigated and the composition of the combustion products in the flame zone adjacent to the specimen’s combustion surface. TPP vapors in flame were found. Addition of TPP to UHMWPE was found to result in reduction of polymer flammability. TPP was shown to act as flame retardant both in the condensed and gas phases.     

The slowly reacting mode of combustion of gaseous mixtures in spherical vessels. Part 1: Transient analysis and explosion limits

Frank-Kamenetskii's analysis of thermal explosions is revisited, using also a single-reaction model with an Arrhenius rate having a large activation energy, to describe the transient combustion of initially cold gaseous mixtures enclosed in a spherical vessel with a constant wall temperature. The analysis shows two modes of combustion. There is a flameless slowly reacting mode for low wall temperatures or small vessel sizes, when the temperature rise resulting from the heat released by the reaction is kept small by the heat-conduction losses to the wall, so as not to change significantly the order of magnitude of the reaction rate. In the other mode, the slow reaction rates occur only in an initial ignition stage, which ends abruptly when very large reaction rates cause a temperature runaway, or thermal explosion, at a well-defined ignition time and location, thereby triggering a flame that propagates across the vessel to consume the reactant rapidly. Explosion limits are defined, in agreement with Frank-Kamenetskii's analysis, by the limiting conditions for existence of the slowly reacting mode of combustion. In this mode, a quasi-steady temperature distribution is established after a transient reaction stage with small reactant consumption. Most of the reactant is burnt, with nearly uniform mass fraction, in a subsequent long stage during which the temperature follows a quasi-steady balance between the rates of heat conduction to the wall and of chemical heat release. The changes in the explosion limits caused by the enhanced heat-transfer rates associated with buoyant motion are described in an accompanying paper.     

Problems of predicting turbulent burning rates

Different approaches to the modelling of turbulent combustion first are reviewed briefly. A unified, stretched flamelet approach then is presented. With Reynolds stress modelling and a generalized probability density function (PDF) of strain rate, it enables a source term, in the form of a probability of burning function, P_b, to be expressed as a function of Markstein numbers and the Karlovitz stretch factor. When P_b is combined with some turbulent flame fractal considerations, an expression is obtained for the turbulent burning velocity. When it is combined with the profile of the unstretched laminar flame volumetric heat release rate plotted against the reaction progress variable and the PDF of the latter, an expression is obtained for the mean volumetric turbulent heat release rate. Through these relationships experimental values of turbulent burning velocity might be used to evaluate P_b and hence the CFD source term, the mean volumetric heat release rate.

Different theoretical expressions for the turbulent burning velocity, including the present one, are compared with experimental measurements. The differences between these are discussed and this is followed by a review of CFD applications of these flamelet concepts to premixed and non-premixed combustion. The various assumptions made in the course of the analyses are scrutinized in the light of recent direct numerical simulations of turbulent flames and the applications to the flames of laser diagnostics. Remaining problem areas include a sufficiently general combination of strain rate and flame curvature PDFs to give a single PDF of flame stretch rate, the nature of flame quenching under positive and negative stretch rates, flame responses to changing stretch rates and the effects of flame instabilities.     

Organic Nano-Montmorillonite for Simultaneously Improving the Flame Retardancy,Thermal Stability,and Mechanical Properties of Intumescent Flame-Retardant Silicone Rubber Composites

The flammability of room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber (RTVSR) composites filled with melamine phosphate (MP) as intumescent flame-retardant additives was characterized by limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL-94 test, and cone calorimeter. In addition, the thermal degradation of the composites was studied using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Furthermore, in order to relate to actual application requirements, the comprehensive performance of the RTVSR/MP composites was optimized by adding organic nano-montmorillonite (OMMT) as a partial substitute for the MP. The as-prepared intumescent flame-retardant RTVSR/MP/OMMT nanocomposites were characterized by LOI, UL-94 test, TGA, cone calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and mechanical tests. The residue morphology formed after the burning of the nanocomposites was analyzed by its SEM and digital photographs. The results showed that the flame-retardant nanocomposites filled with 10 phr OMMT and 35 phr MP displayed the best comprehensive performance in terms of the flame retardancy, mechanical properties, and heat stability at low cost. It is expected that the intumescent flame-retardant silicone rubber composites with simultaneously improved flame retardancy, thermal stability, and mechanical properties will meet more requirements of the increasingly complex applications.     

Onset and development of convective burning in highly porous charges of ammonium perchlorate and its mixtures with aluminum

The onset and development of convective burning in the charges with a high porosity prepared from the finely dispersed ammonium perchlorate and its mixtures with aluminum ASD-4 is studied. The experiments were carried out in a constant volume bomb with the record of the pressure-time history and in the confinement with a slit, which makes it possible to perform simultaneously the photographic and piezometric recording of the process. Special attention is given to the mixtures with the increased aluminum content. The minimum lengths of samples are determined at which convective burning or explosion occur. The dependence of these lengths on the aluminum concentration in the mixture is determined. The possibility of convective burning and low-velocity detonation in ammonium perchlorate without the combustible additive is shown. It is established that the introduction of aluminum causes the ignition of the dispersed suspension behind the front of convective burning with the formation of the brightly glowing high-pressure zone (the secondary wave), which intensively expands in both sides from the place of origin. When the secondary wave overtakes the front of convective burning, the low-velocity detonation appears. The obtained results are of interest for explosion safety of the mixtures of ammonium perchlorate with aluminum and for designing generators of high-temperature suspensions with aluminum particles.     

神光Ⅱ升级装置锥壳靶间接驱动快点火集成实验

在神光Ⅱ升级装置上完成了国际上首次间接驱动快点火集成实验。实验采用双台阶脉冲整形激光注入黑腔产生X射线准等熵压缩锥壳靶,实现了高密度压缩,然后采用皮秒超短脉冲激光注入加热燃料。实验中观测到中子产额由皮秒激光注入前的5×103增加到2.2×105,中子产额增益达到44倍,实验证实了皮秒激光具有明显燃料加热效果。该实验为进一步开展快点火热斑形成效率和相关物理研究奠定了基础。     

Limiting conditions for flame spread in fire resistant fabrics

Fire resistant (FR) fabrics are used for astronauts, firefighter and racecar driver suits. However, their fire resistant characteristics depend on the environmental conditions and require study. Particularly important is the response of these fabrics to varied environments and radiant heat from a source such as an adjacent fire. In this work, experiments were conducted to study the effect of oxygen concentration, external radiant flux and oxidizer flow velocity on the concurrent flame spread over two FR fabrics: Nomex HT90-40 and a Nomex/Nylon/Cotton fabric blend. Results show that for a given fabric the minimum oxygen concentration for concurrent flame spread depends strongly on the magnitude of the external radiant flux. At increased oxygen concentrations the external radiant flux required for flame spread decreases. Oxidizer flow velocity influences the external radiant flux only when the convective heat flux from the flame has similar values to the external radiant flux. The results of this work provide further understanding of the flammability characteristics of fire resistant fabrics in environments similar to those of future spacecrafts.     

不同燃烧状态飞火颗粒自由燃烧规律研究

飞火是开放空间中大尺度火灾非连续性蔓延的主要形式。本文通过不同热流下的木质飞火颗粒自由燃烧实验,揭示不同燃烧状态飞火颗粒的结构变形、质量损失及温度分布的变化规律。研究表明,颗粒结构变形受材料化学反应机制和热机械力作用共同影响;颗粒燃烧反应易造成热解气体的内部积聚,以致内压激增、诱发喷射或喷溅细小颗粒的现象;阴燃过程颗粒表面温度变化较小但持续时间很长,明火状态的颗粒持续高温并且温度与质量变化剧烈。     

The role of radical wall quenching in flame stability and wall heat flux: hydrogen-air mixtures

The role of wall quenching of radicals in ignition, extinction and autothermal behaviour of premixed H₂–air flames impinging on a flat surface was studied using numerical bifurcation techniques, with detailed gas-phase chemistry and surface radical recombination reactions. Quenching out of radicals was found to retard the system at ignition due solely to the kinetics of the surface reactions. While kinetically extinction is also retarded, the thermal feedback from the wall recombination of radicals can render the flame more stable and lead to a higher wall heat flux as a function of wall temperature compared to an inert surface under some conditions. It is also shown that the combined kinetic and thermal effects of wall radical quenching can expand the autothermal regime. Implications for estimating flammability limits near reactive surfaces of tubes are finally discussed.

M This article features multimedia enhancements available from the abstract page in the online journal; see http://www.iop.org.     

高密实含能颗粒床对流燃烧过程的实验研究

高密实含能颗粒床对流燃烧过程的实验研究张小兵，金志明，袁亚雄（南京理工大学动力学院南京２１００９４）关键词对流燃烧；含能颗粒床；实验研究１引言在高能燃料火箭推进系统和粒状火药炮膛内，火药颗粒燃烧的热量传递机理是强迫对流。当装填密度高到一定程度时，火焰...     

Bifurcation and extinction limit of stretched premixed flames with chain-branching intermediate kinetics and radiative loss

Premixed counterflow flames with thermally sensitive intermediate kinetics and radiation heat loss are analysed within the framework of large activation energy. Unlike previous studies considering one-step global reaction, two-step chemistry consisting of a chain branching reaction and a recombination reaction is considered here. The correlation between the flame front location and stretch rate is derived. Based on this correlation, the extinction limit and bifurcation characteristics of the strained premixed flame are studied, and the effects of fuel and radical Lewis numbers as well as radiation heat loss are examined. Different flame regimes and their extinction characteristics can be predicted by the present theory. It is found that fuel Lewis number affects the flame bifurcation qualitatively and quantitatively, whereas radical Lewis number only has a quantitative influence. Stretch rates at the stretch and radiation extinction limits respectively decrease and increase with fuel Lewis number before the flammability limit is reached, while the radical Lewis number shows the opposite tendency. In addition, the relation between the standard flammability limit and the limit derived from the strained near stagnation flame is affected by the fuel Lewis number, but not by the radical Lewis number. Meanwhile, the flammability limit increases with decreased fuel Lewis number, but with increased radical Lewis number. Radical behaviours at flame front corresponding to flame bifurcation and extinction are also analysed in this work. It is shown that radical concentration at the flame front, under extinction stretch rate condition, increases with radical Lewis number but decreases with fuel Lewis number. It decreases with increased radiation loss.