Comparison of detonation characteristics in energy output of gaseous JP-10 and propylene oxide in air

Abstract

Propylene oxide (PO) is a traditional fuel in fuel–air explosives (FAE), and exo-tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene (JP-10) is a newly developed aviation fuel with a high volumetric energy density. Detonation properties of gaseous JP-10 and PO in a confined cylindrical tube were studied by two-dimensional simulation. Results show that the magnitude, trend and law of change in detonation properties of JP-10/air are similar to those of PO/air. Firstly, JP-10 achieves superior detonation properties to PO under the same volumetric fraction rather than under the same mass. However, by comparison of the two fuels, JP-10 achieves the same detonation effect at lower concentrations and saves up to 61.6% of fuel mass than PO. In addition, the length of post-shock high-temperature-and-pressure zone in PO/air is greater than that of JP-10/air, which is advantageous to improve the power capacity and damage ability. It is also noteworthy that PO has a shorter chemical reaction time than JP-10, which makes it easier to support self-sustaining detonation propagation by a short period of chemical exothermic process. This work could be of great significance to investigate the dispersing and detonation performances of JP-10 and PO in applications of FAE, and facilitate the optimization of FAE components.