Deflagration to detonation transition fueled by dust layers

Abstract

The roles which dust layers play in severe dust explosions were investigated in a 70 m long and 30 cm inside diameter horizontal Flame Acceleration Tube (FAT) with one end closed and the other end open to the atmosphere. A variety of dusts such as corn dust, cornstarch, Mira Gel starch, wheat dust, and wood flour were layered on the bottom half of the FAT. To initiate the combustion process, a detonation tube filled with a stoichiometric H 2 /O 2 mixture at room temperature and 1 atm pressure was used to ignite a short presuspended dust cloud with a dust concentration of 500–600 g/m 3 . Combustion waves generated by this dust cloud travel toward the open end of the FAT and are continuously fueled by the dust/air mixtures. Flame propagation processes in the FAT were closely monitored by a variety of measuring instruments at different locations. The study demonstrates that stable quasi-detonation were reached in some runs, but self-sustained Chapman-Jouguet detonations were not observed possibly due to the limitation of the tube length. Attempts were made to determine the structure of dust detonations fueled by a dust layer. Preliminary evidence indicates that for Mira Gel starch the leading shock is essentially a triple shock configuration which involves a Mach stem and for wheat and wood dusts there possibly exists a multi-headed spin structure.