Initiation of multifuel mixtures with bifurcation structures

Abstract

The theory of a strong explosion is used as a basis for the development of an experimental technique for determining the source energy that ensures initiation of the combustible mixture. The technique is tested in experiments aimed at determining the critical energies of spherical detonation initiation E*₃ with the use of an electric discharge for a stoichiometric acetylene–oxygen mixture and also for two-fuel mixtures (acetylene–nitrous oxide–oxygen) possessing bifurcation properties of cellular structures. The critical energy E*₃ for the stoichiometric two-fuel mixture in terms of both fuels with a bifurcation structure is several-fold lower than the value of E*₃ for the monofuel mixture whose cell size at a given pressure is determined by the large scale of bifurcation cells. This result testifies that the value of E*₃ decreases with increasing number of “hot points,” which are numerous regions of collisions of large-scale and small-scale transverse waves in the mixture with bifurcation properties.