A study of spherical detonation in mixtures of methane and oxygen diluted by nitrogen

Abstract

A study has been made of spherical detonation waves in methane/oxygen/nitrogen mixtures. Using various masses M of solid explosive (Tetryl) as initiator, the detonatability limit in the (x,M) plane at atmospheric pressure has been established for mixtures of composition CH4+202+xN2with 1.4 <or=x<or=5.53. The results cast doubt on a claim to have demonstrated spherical detonation in stoichiometric methane/air mixtures. Measured detonation velocities were all close to calculated Chapman Jouguet velocities.