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Fragmentation requirements for detonating thermal explosions

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Abstract

THE contact of a hot with a cold liquid can develop into a rapid thermal interaction in which a significant fraction (approaching the thermodynamic limits) of the thermal energy in the hot liquid is converted into mechanical work. These so-called ‘thermal explosions’ are of interest to several industries, such as paper, metal, LNG and nuclear power reactor. One approach towards understanding thermal explosions has been proposed by Board et al.1 They used ideas of classical detonation theory in conjunction with a mechanism of pressure wave-induced fragmentation of liquid fuel drops premixed (coarsely) with the liquid coolant, the quantitative aspects of which they based on existing measurements in gas–water systems. We report here our studies of fragmentation of high surface tension liquid drops (mercury) in a liquid medium (water) in which we found that the fragmentation behaviour is considerably different from that in the gas–water system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nuclear Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907

    P. D. PATEL & T. G. THEOFANOUS

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  1. P. D. PATEL
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  2. T. G. THEOFANOUS
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PATEL, P., THEOFANOUS, T. Fragmentation requirements for detonating thermal explosions. Nature 274, 142–144 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/274142a0

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