Detonation Initiation by Shock Reflection from an Orifice Plate

Abstract

Results from an experimental investigation of the interaction of a “non-ideal” shock wave and a single obstacle are reported. The shock wave is produced ahead of an accelerated flame in a 14 cm inner-diameter tube partially filled with orifice plates. The shock wave interacts with a single larger blockage orifice plate placed 15–45 cm after the last orifice plate in the flame acceleration section of the tube. Experiments were performed with stoichiometric ethylene–oxygen mixtures with varying amounts of nitrogen dilution at atmospheric pressure and temperature. The critical nitrogen dilution was found for detonation initiation. It is shown that detonation initiation occurs if the chemical induction time based on the reflected shock state is shorter than the time required for an acoustic wave to traverse the orifice plate upstream surface, from the inner to the outer diameter. The similarity between the present results and those obtained from previous investigators looking at detonation initiation by ideal shock reflection produced in a shock tube indicates that the phenomenon is not sensitive to the detailed structure of the shock front but only on the average shock strength.