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Minimum tube diameters for steady propagation of gaseous detonations

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Abstract

Recent experimental results on detonation limits are reported in this paper. A parametric study was carried out to determine the minimum tube diameters for steady detonation propagation in five different hydrocarbon fuel–oxygen combustible mixtures and in five polycarbonate test tube diameters ranging from 50.8 mm down to a small scale of 1.5 mm. The wave propagation in the tube was monitored by optical fibers. By decreasing the initial pressure, hence the sensitivity of the mixture, the onset of limits is indicated by an abrupt drop in the steady detonation velocity after a short distance of travel. From the measured wave velocities inside the test tube, the critical pressure corresponding to the limit and the minimum tube diameters for the propagation of the detonation can be obtained. The present experimental results are in good agreement with previous studies and show that the measured minimum tube diameters can be reasonably estimated on the basis of the \(\lambda \)/3 rule over a wide range of conditions, where \(\lambda \) is the detonation cell size. These new data shall be useful for safety assessment in process industries and in developing and validating models for detonation limits.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Machinery, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Y. Gao

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, Montréal, QC , H3A 2K6, Canada

    J. H. S. Lee

  3. Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University, Montréal, QC , H3G 1M8, Canada

    H. D. Ng

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  1. Y. Gao
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  2. H. D. Ng
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  3. J. H. S. Lee
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Correspondence to H. D. Ng.

Additional information

Communicated by S. Dorofeev.

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Gao, Y., Ng, H.D. & Lee, J.H.S. Minimum tube diameters for steady propagation of gaseous detonations. Shock Waves 24, 447–454 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00193-014-0505-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00193-014-0505-8

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