Experimental and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studies of deflagration to detonation transition (DDT)
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Experiments were conducted and theoretical models were developed to understand and quantify the DDT. Experiments were performed in a 2.75-m long detonation tube, with an internal diameter of 0.0386 m. Acetylene was used as a probe molecule. Two distinct methods were used to determine if transition of the shock wave from deflagration to detonation is possible. In the first method, pressure transducers were used. The pressure data were reported in 13 different positions, five along the tube and eight in the flame expansion zone. The second method utilized the principle of the soot foil technique, where an aluminum sheet was evenly coated with a fine layer of soot-obtained from the burning of a kerosene-soaked rag. This method allowed one to observe the cell structure of the detonation and its pattern. The theoretical calculations of both the flame dynamics and the overpressure were performed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models. Even though CFD models did not represent the transition from deflagration to detonation, they resolved either a fast deflagration or a detonation. However, various CFD models have shown good agreement with experimental data when high overpressures were achieved. The simulated results were compared with the experimental data obtained from the detonation tube to determine the predictive capability of the developed CFD models. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 2012 AIChE Spring National Meeting and 8th Global Congress on Process Safety (Houston, TX 4/1-5/2012).
