Experimental and numerical studies on transmission of gaseous detonation to a less sensitive mixture

A phenomenon of detonation transmission from one gaseous mixture (donor) to another of lower sensitivity (acceptor) was studied experimentally and numerically. The objective was to study effects of a donor mixture length and acceptor mixture sensitivity on the possibility of detonation transmission. Experiments were carried out in detonation tube 9.5–12 m long and 174 mm id. Three types of donor mixtures were used in the driver: stoichiometric acetylene/air, stoichiometric hydrogen/air, and 20% of hydrogen/air. Air mixtures with 14–29.6% of hydrogen were used as acceptors. Driver length varied from 0.17 to 5.6 m. Detonation transmission was studied for an abrupt opening of interface between two mixtures. Series of 1D and 2D calculations were made to simulate the problem numerically. Both, results of experiments and calculations revealed a set of parameters that effect transmission process. Critical conditions were determined as minimum driver length expressed in terms of characteristic chemical reaction length scales of acceptor mixture. They were shown to depend on differences in reaction rates and energy contents of donor and acceptor mixture. Received 6 January 1997 / Accepted 20 March 1997