Combustion and explosion of hydrogen-air mixtures under conditions imitating elements of gas-laden rooms

Abstract

The time evolution of the processes of combustion and explosion with regard to safety problems in handling reactive gas mixtures was studied. The explosion safety for reaction volumes and gas-laden rooms can be assessed only if data on the possible consequences of the emergencies under conditions close to real ones or modeling them are available. The propagation of nonplanar explosion waves with a short positive phase in volumes with variable cross section is an essentially unsteady process. Until recently, the regularities of the evolution of the characteristics of such waves during their propagation in a reactive mixture with heat release virtually have not been studied. At the same time, these processes determine the character of combustion, and, therefore, the possibility of their formalization provides the opportunity to treat the entire variety of combustion regimes. Only a knowledge of general laws of the interaction of unsteady gasdynamic processes and gaskinetic processes in a reactive medium makes it possible to control combustion regimes purposefully and effectively. The present work is devoted to studying the propagation of combustion in cavities with a geometry imitating elements of reaction volumes and rooms filled with a hydrogen-air mixture. Results for a pyramid-shaped cavity capable of cumulating flows and waves are considered and compared to those obtained using a conical cavity [1–5].