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Detonability of fuel–air mixtures

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Abstract

A new experimental method for evaluating the detonability of fuel–air mixtures (FAMs) based on measuring the deflagration-to-detonation (DDT) run-up distance and/or time in a standard pulse detonation tube (SDT) is used to rank gaseous premixed and non-premixed FAMs by their detonability under substantially identical thermodynamic and gasdynamic conditions. In the experiments, FAMs based on hydrogen, acetylene, ethylene, propylene, propane–butane, n-pentane, and natural gas of various compositions, as well as FAMs based on the gaseous pyrolysis products of polypropylene (PP), are used: from extremely fuel-lean to extremely fuel-rich at normal temperatures and pressures. The concept of equivalent FAMs exhibiting the same or similar detonability under the same conditions is proposed. Equivalent FAMs can be used for predictive physical modeling of detonation processes involving FAMs of other fuels. The ranking of FAMs in terms of their relative detonability allows choosing a propylene FAM for physical modeling of the operation process in the PP-fueled solid-fuel ramjets operating on detonative combustion.

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Acknowledgements

This work is partly performed due to the subsidy allocated by the N. N. Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the implementation of the State Task No. 0082-2016-0011 (State Registration Number AAAA-A17-117040610346-5), and also with the support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant No. 18-08-00076a).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. N.N. Semenov Federal Research Center for Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 4 Kosygin Str., Moscow, Russian Federation, 119991

    S. M. Frolov, V. S. Aksenov, M. V. Kazachenko, I. O. Shamshin & P. A. Gusev

  2. National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), 31 Kashirskoe Sh., Moscow, Russian Federation, 115409

    S. M. Frolov & V. S. Aksenov

  3. Scientific Research Institute for System Analysis, Russian Academy of Sciences, 36-1 Nakhimovskii Prosp., Moscow, Russian Federation, 117218

    S. M. Frolov, I. O. Shamshin & M. S. Belotserkovskaya

  4. S. A. Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 4/1 Institutskaya Str., Novosibirsk, Russian Federation, 630090

    V. I. Zvegintsev

  5. A. V. Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, Russian Academy of Sciences, 29 Leninsky Prosp., Moscow, Russian Federation, 119991

    I. V. Bilera

  6. N. E. Bauman Moscow State Technical University, 5-1 Baumanskaya 2nd Str., Moscow, Russian Federation, 105005

    M. V. Kazachenko

  7. Joint Institute for High Temperatures, Russian Academy of Sciences, 13-2 Izhorskaya Str., Moscow, Russian Federation, 125412

    P. A. Gusev

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  1. S. M. Frolov
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  2. V. I. Zvegintsev
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  3. V. S. Aksenov
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  4. I. V. Bilera
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  5. M. V. Kazachenko
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  6. I. O. Shamshin
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  7. P. A. Gusev
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  8. M. S. Belotserkovskaya
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Correspondence to S. M. Frolov.

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Communicated by G. Ciccarelli.

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Frolov, S.M., Zvegintsev, V.I., Aksenov, V.S. et al. Detonability of fuel–air mixtures. Shock Waves 30, 721–739 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00193-020-00966-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00193-020-00966-9

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