Combustion of Shock-Dispersed Fuels in a Chamber
In previous studies we have investigated after-burning effects of a fuel-rich explosive (TNT). In that case the detonation only releases about 30 % of the available energy, but generates a hot cloud of fuel that can burn in the ambient air, thus evoking an additional energy release that is distributed in space and time. The current series of small-scale experiments can be looked upon as a natural generalization of this mechanism: a booster charge disperses a (non-explosive) fuel, provides mixing with air and - by means of the hot detonation products - energy to ignite the fuel. The current version of our miniature Shock-Dispersed-Fuel (SDF) charges consists of a spherical booster charge of 0.5 g PETN, embedded in a paper cylinder of approximately 2.2 cm3, which is filled with powdered fuel compositions. The main compositions studied up to now contain aluminum powder, hydrocarbon powders like polyethylene or sucrose and/or carbon particles. These charges were studied in three different chambers of 4-1, 6.6-1 and 40.5-1 volume. In general, the booster charge was sufficient to initiate burning of the fuel. This modifies the pressure signatures measured with a number of wall gages and increases the quasi-static overpressure level obtained in the chambers. On the one hand the time-scale and the yield of the pressure rise depend on the fuel and its characteristics. On the other hand they also depend on the flow dynamics in the chamber, which is dominated by shock reverberations, and thus on the chamber geometry and volume. The paper gives a survey of the experimental results and discusses the possible influences of some basic parameters.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 15003915
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-152263; TRN: US201015%%234
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 11th International Symposium on Interaction of the Effects of the Mnitions with Structures, Manheim, Germany, May 05 - May 09, 2003
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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