Flame acceleration process and detonation transition in a channel with roughness elements on a wall

Abstract

We experimentally investigated the effect of small roughness elements, which could be regarded as the wall roughness, on flame acceleration and deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT). Our previous experiments (Maeda et al., 2019) using the sandpaper-like irregular roughness indicated that the flame acceleration and the associated DDT were greatly enhanced by the roughness. In this study, CH* chemiluminescence imaging as well as schlieren imaging was conducted in parallel with pressure measurements using an ethylene-oxygen combustion in the channel (486 mm long, 10 mm square cross-section) with the regular roughness (square pyramid elements with a base length and a height of 1 mm) in order to directly link the interference between the flow-field affected by the roughness and the propagating flame surface resulting the enhancement of chemical reactions, whereas the schlieren imaging alone could not allow to discuss the chemical reaction field in the previous study. After the leading shock wave was formed by the initial finger flame acceleration process, multiple interactions were observed on the flame front with the flow-field and pressure disturbances of the unreacted gas near the roughness elements. The results provided clear evidence that the roughness emphasized the effect of boundary layer, and the region where the disturbance layer and the flame were interacting coincided with the strong chemical reaction in the chemiluminescence image, indicating increase of the flame surface area caused by the turbulence on the flame front, which was also validated by the rough estimation of the burning velocity. The detonation onset was observed at the flame surface near the wall with the roughness elements. The possible factors of the final detonation transition were deduced to be the hot spot formation based on the multiple interactions of pressure waves with the roughness elements and entrainment of the unreacted gas of the highly turbulent flame front.