The Initiation Process of Film Detonation : Critical Initiation Energy of Kerosene-Oxygen-Nitrogen Mixtures

A 3m detonation tube with 25 mm ×30 mm rectangular cross-section instrumented to monitor a shock front (pressure transducers) was used to study the detonation of kerosene film attached to the tube walls. The effects of oxidizer dilution and initiation energy were investigated. The initiation was performed by oxyhydrogen detonation produced in a driver tube attached to the tube being tested. Shock waves whose propagating Mach number was as large as 5 were observed, which can be considered as detonation waves. The critical initiation energy above which the detonation waves could be initiated in this tube was obtained as a function of the oxidizer dilution ratio