Detonation in Hydrogen-Nitrous Oxide-Diluent Mixtures: An Experimental and Numerical Study

Knowledge of H_2–N_2O mixtures explosive properties is important to the safety of nuclear waste storage and semi-conductor manufacturing processes. The present study provides new experimental data on H_2–N_2O detonations, and proposes a thermochemical model which is used to numerically simulate detonation propagation. Detonation cell size has been measured in a variety of H_2–N_2O–Ar mixtures. Even at low initial pressure, these mixtures are very sensitive to detonation with cell size of few millimeters. Using a reduced version of a detailed reaction scheme, 2-D Euler simulations have been used to examine the features of detonation in H_2–N_2O–Diluent mixtures. A PLIF model has been applied to allow for direct comparison with experimental results. Statistical analysis of the cellular cycle dynamics has been performed.