Mitigation of H2/air gaseous detonation via utilization of PAN-based carbon fibre felt

Abstract

This paper first studied the mitigation of the hydrogen/air mixture detonation wave by tuning the tube inner wall with the absorbing material of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibre felt. The experimental tests were performed in a single-trial circular cross-section tube filled with premixed hydrogen and air detonative mixture. The pressure values and flame front propagation were measured by means of pressure transducers and photodiodes respectively. The attenuation regimes of detonation wave in walled tubes with different thicknesses and layouts of absorption material were compared. The PAN-based carbon fibre felt makes a significant attenuation on the detonation propagation. The decoupling of leading shock wave and flame front can be observed under the effect of this absorbing layer. The ultimate strength close to the tube end and propagation velocity of the combustion wave decrease with the increase of felt thickness. When the interval layout felt is adopted, the spacing distance has almost no impact on the attenuation effectiveness. When the sectional layout is adopted, the effectiveness of detonation mitigation is however improved for a higher proportion of the absorbing material.