Combustion and Flume
Detonation Limits of Unconfined
Hydrocarbon-Air Mixtures*
Various techniqu~es may be used to intitiate ga~-
phase detonatio~l~; these include reflected shock
initiation in a shock tube, direct initiation by a
high-energy spark, and initiation from accel-
erating flames [1]. In these cases a relatively
strong shock is observed to chemically precon-
dition the gas in the region where the detonation
first appears. In an analogous manner, we have
used high explosives to precondition and initiate
detonations in atmospheric-pressure hydrocar-
bon-air mixtures which are confined only by a
thin plastic membrane. We report here the
range of compositions which will sustain deto-
nation waves in such atmospheric-pressure
"'unconfined" gases.*
Experimentally, detonations were p r o d u c e d
inside long plastic bags of rectangular cross
section (6 x 6 x 25 feet or 4 x 4 × 20 feet) i n
which constituent gases were first mixed. Mix-
tures were controlled by weighing the fuel in its
liquid state and either accurately measuring the
bag dimensions oi" metering air into ~he bag
through a flow meter. To ensure a homogen-
eous mixture of the fnel and air, an electric
fan which continuoasly stirred the gases was
suspended inside tht~ bag. This avoided strati-
* Well-lbrmed, stabl~ detonation waves were obtained
using a propane gas cloud on extremely calm days without
the thin plastic membralie. The heavier molecular weight
of propane, as ec*mpared with alr, prevents rapid di[fnston
and dilution of the fuel and may be responsible Ibr our
success.
83
fication and was particularly important for the
higher molecular fuel examined. D'etonation
was initiated by placing the high exrqosives in
contacl with the bag wall.
T h e primary instrumentatiov was photo-
graphic and consisted o f a Fastax camera loaded
with colored ASA 200 film and operated at
6000-8000 frames per second. Varinus types
and amounts of explosives were employed:
however, limited iiata were obtained Ibr nearly
initiated using 860 g o f Dupont El. 506-A.5
sheet cxplosive.'~' Detonability limits for several
fnel-air mixtures irlitiated by an explosive charge
of 800 g are compared with flammability linaits
in Fig. 1. The limits in wl~ieh det,~!nation can
be initiated may be extended sl~gP,tly by use ol'
stronger shock waves. Facts studied were bu-
tane, propane, propylene, and M ~ P P . ~ In
general, the detonation limits arc sli!~htly nar-
rower for unconfined mixtures than fi:~rthe cot-
............................................
.•• The minimum quantity of explosive to :~u.~eessfully
initiate stable detonations varied with [he type ol fuel: Ibr
example, only 150 g of explo~iw: was nt:edcd 'or a 4.3
volume '!~, pl~pane-air mixtnre, while lid ~, su~:cesslblly
detonated 4.6-7.5 volume ~, MAPP-air ~lliXlalre~.
MAPP. a Dow Chemical welding fuel. eonr;ists of a
mixture of saturated and highly ur mltur~ted b ydr~tcarbons.
Our samples were analyzed to be 18% ptopa le. 7,4',~,
propylene. 10~)~o-butan 26,1% propadiene, alld 37.8'~,.',
methyhlcetylene plus I '~',J~r less of ethane, cyclopropane.
and unsaturated butanes.';~utane ICP Grade) was supplied
by the Matheson Compan.~. while propane b:ornnlerciall)
locally available) analyzett ~q5'~; propane with butane
and ethane as impuritles,
Comhu.~tion & Flame. I~. 83 -84(1970)
Copyright ~ In7ObyThe Co~bu:~tlOllInstitute
Publishedby AmerlcanElsevierPublishingCompany. Inc.
84 W. B. Benediek, J. D. Kennedy, B. Morosin

? ÷ .~ .~ ~ ~. 6, T 8 ? ÷o .u. within the larger sized bags; in addition, con-

strictions on the outside w a l l s of the smallvr
sized bags reduced the diameter to which they
would inflate. Such constrictions, as well as
PreP¥~.e~ i I~N X g),~XXXXXXXXXXXXI i detonations observed in stratified mixtures in
which the planar detonation front progressed
MAr~* ,,i ~XXX:~XeXXXXX
XXXXXXXl~XXXXX~ only in the detonable, mixture situated as a
layer n e a r the top o f the bag, suggest that
critical failure diameters for unconfined det-
onating mixtures are between 8 and 10 in.
Figure 1. Detonability limits in air ( ~ by volume) of some This work was supported by the U. S. Atomic
hydrocarbons. Energy Commission.

responding fuels confined within a shock tube. Reference

In addition dctonatiom could not be initiated 1. LEwis. B., and Vow ELUE,G., Combu.~tlon. Flames and
from accelerating defiagrations. E.~:plosions of Gases. 2nd Ed. Aeadvm:lc: New York
(196t).
Critical failure diameter criteria were not
investigateu for all o f the various fuel mixtures; W. ~. BENI2DICK,J, D. KENNEDY,~lnd [~. MOROSIN
however, limited data were obtained for nearly Sandia Laboratories
Albuquerque. New Mexico. U.S.A.
5 % propane-air mixtures. Plastic membranes
with holes o f varying diameter were placed
(Received M a y , 1970,)

= H . G. C o w a r d and G, W. Joner), *'Limits o f F l a m m a -

bility o f Gases and Vapors," U, S. Bur. Mines Bull. 503
(1952): flammability limits rot MAPE-air miztures taken
from G. A. Carlson (unpublished).
Combustionand Flame
Electric Field Control of
Oscillatory Flames
Recently Babcock et al. [1] reported a series of
experiments in which a natural gas flame was
modulated both mechanically and electrically
by an external source. As a result of these ex-
periments, they suggested the possibility of
using electric or acoustic energy to control os-
eillatory combustion~ which occurs, for exam-
ple, in a chemical rocket engine. In order to
further investigate this possibility, the interac-
tion of an electric field with an acetylene flame
was studied, using the apparatus shown in Fig.
1. The phenomenon observed was an interac-
tion between direct and alternating electric fields
applied across a premixed hydrocarbon llame
and the oscillatory combustion produced in-
dependently by a flame and resonator tube
arrangement. With the switch in position 1, the
glass resonator tube, having a length of 61 cm
and a diameter of 3.8 cm, produced an extremely
loud tone of approximately 800 Hz. After the
oscillations had been initiated, an annular alu-
minum electrode was inserted into the tube in
such a way that it did not touch "~hecone of
the flame or alter the oseil!ations in any notice-
able way. A lower electrode was formed by the
metal barrel of the burner.
In several experiments, de voltages and ac
voltages, varying between 2 kV and 5 kV p.p and
85
obtained from an audio-oscillator, w~re applied
across the flame via the two electrodcs as showrt
with the switch in positr,on 2. This configura-
tion is very similar to the one used by Abrukov
ct al. [2] in a previous study of electric field
and flame interactions, but qualitatively the re..
suits are slightly different. Ia the present ex-
periments, the applied" electric fields were not
capable of supressing the oscillatory combus-
tion : however, the interaction between the flame
and the ae field was manifested by an intense
beating phenomenon, which apparently was
also observed by Abrukov et al. The beat fre-
quency was changed by varyiug the audio-
oscillator frequency: in fact, the beat frequency
could be used to measure the I~'equency pro-
duced by the ,.'lame-resonator system. An in-
crease in the applied electric lield ultimately
resulted in a breakdown, where the beat phe-
nom¢.:laon disappeared and the resulting ~ound
was ,J simple superposition of the tones pro-
duee.i by the audio-oscillator and ['y the flame-
resonator. This breakdown el'feet ibrn~ed the
ba-;is of the experiments reported by Babcock
et al. []'1 and is quite diffeleu'i from the inter-
action phenomenon described 'here.
The appearence of a bealt frequency in the
first experiment suggests t~mt an alternating
Combttstlon & Flame, 15, 85-88 (1970)
Copyright@ 1970 by The Combustion Institute
Published by AmericanEb,evierP~.,blishingCompany.In¢,