Simulation of the vapor explosion of tin and aluminum oxide fragments in water

Abstract

The vapor explosion process involves an explosive phase change from a thin liquid film into a vapor with a dramatic change in material properties across a high-pressure shock wave. The energy released during the explosion process can reach a level of chemical explosions associated with detonating high explosives. Because no fuel-air chemical reaction is needed for initiating a vapor explosion, the process can be considered as a green reaction that generates zero pollutants. However, the phase change that accompanies a thousand-fold increase in the vapor volume during the rapid film evaporation is a natural consequence of a sudden change in density across the phase front; this feature closely resembles the process of blast wave generation. The high-pressure vapor produced without a chemical reaction expands as a spherical wave at a uniform velocity predicted through the Rankine-Hugoniot shock conditions. In this paper, a new methodology based on a simple shock wave and a phase field theory is proposed to formulate the vapor explosion process.