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Projectile-Initiated Detonation

T5 Shot 1020 Picture

Oblique detonation initiation in a stoichiometric mixture of hydrogen and air at an initial pressure of 2.6 atm. Projectile is a 25 mm diam sphere, nominal velocity of 2700 m/s. The wave angle indicates that the normal velocity is about 2338 m/s, which is overdriven by about 20%. Cell width is estimated to be 6 mm. Shadowgraph by Mike Kaneshige
Modification of T5
The hypersonic shock tube facility T5 has been modified to launch small projectiles (1-inch diam. nylon spheres) into a combustible atmosphere. The modifications consist of a gun tube attached to the nozzle and a test section to create a two-stage light gas gun assembly. The goal is to create and study stabilized detonation waves either on the bow shock or behind the shock reflected from the walls of the test section. Critical conditions for the initiation of detonation are being computed by analyzing the reactive flow behind a curved shock wave. An example of the conditions under which decoupling of the shock and reaction zone occurs is shown below

T5 Shot 1015 Picture

Failure to initiation detonation in a stoichiometric hydrogen-air mixture at an initial pressure of 0.4 bar. Shadowgraph by Mike Kaneshige

Some publications
20th ISSW abstract
20th ISSW paper (PDF)
26th Combustion Symposium paper (PDF)