Fundamental Mechanisms of Unconfined Detonation of Fuel-Air Explosions.
Abstract
Research during the past year has led to some significant results which have profound implications in the area of vapor cloud explosion in general, and in the area of 'shockless' initiation of detonation in particular. In brief we have; (1) demonstrated experimentally that initiation of detonation can be achieved by injecting a chemical catalyst into a fuel-air mixture, (ii) demonstrated experimentally that direct initiation can be achieved by seeding an explosive mixture with free radicals of the appropriate concentration and spatial distribution, (iii) demonstrated experimentally that direct initiation can be achieved via turbulent mixing between an explosive mixture and its combustion products, (iv) demonstrated experimentally that unconfined turbulent flame speeds exceeding 400 m/s can readily be achieved in a mixture as inert as methane air, (v) clarified through experiments the role of confinement on the propagation of detonations near the detonability limits, and (vi) assessed the far field destructive potential of FAE weapons by calculating numerically the effective blast energy of non-ideal blast waves generated by vapor cloud explosions. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA084367
Entities
People
- I. O. Moen
- Jeong Hyo Lee
- R. Knystautas
Organizations
- McGill University