Detonability of fuel-oxygen and fuel-air mixtures

Abstract

An analysis of theoretical models and experimental investigations of the detonability of unconfined detonation in uniform gaseous mixtures shows a disparity in results. The present study is limited to propane, acetylene and methane diluted with oxygen or air in variable proportions and initial pressures at ambient temperature conditions. Because of the disparity in results, a simple and general formulation of critical initiation energy for gaseous detonations has been investigated. The problem has been formulated using the conservation equation of total energy enclosed by the shock. From this, a simple form for the critical energy has been deduced. This approach leads to a good simulation in uniform mixtures, regardless of initiation conditions. Some applications are presented in this paper.