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Study of the shock-induced acceleration of hexane droplets

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Abstract

An experimental study of the interaction of a shock wave with a hexane droplet is presented. The main goal of the experiments was to record images of the process and measure basic parameters describing movement, dispersion and evaporation of the droplets engulfed by a shock wave propagating in air. A shock tube with a visualization section was used for this research. Photography of the process allowed one to measure the positions, velocities and sizes of mist clouds created by the interaction processes. Analysis of the pictures shows that there is no qualitative difference between cases for different size droplets, but shock Mach number had a significant effect on the process. Quantitative analysis shows that under certain conditions, a catastrophic breakup mechanism of dispersion occurred. The droplets are shattered into a mist cloud before they achieve mechanical equilibrium with the surrounding gas. The approximate time for the complete dispersion and acceleration of the fuel droplet varies from 300 to 500 μs, and depends both on the droplet diameter and shock velocity. The dispersion time is controlled principally by the droplet diameter, and to a lesser extent, the shock Mach number.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Warsaw University of Technology, ul. Nowowiejska 21/25, Warsaw, Poland

    Arkadiusz Kobiera, Jacek Szymczyk & Piotr Wolański

  2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA

    Allen Kuhl

Authors
  1. Arkadiusz Kobiera
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  2. Jacek Szymczyk
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  3. Piotr Wolański
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  4. Allen Kuhl
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arkadiusz Kobiera.

Additional information

Communicated by S. Dorofeev.

This paper is based on work that was presented at the 20th International Colloquium on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems, Montreal, Canada, July 31–August 5, 2005.

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Kobiera, A., Szymczyk, J., Wolański, P. et al. Study of the shock-induced acceleration of hexane droplets. Shock Waves 18, 475–485 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00193-008-0184-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00193-008-0184-4

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