A REVIEW OF DETONATION INITIATION TECHNIQUES FOR INSENSITIVE DENSE METHANE-OXYGEN-NITROGEN MIXTURES

This paper is aimed at providing some data on the detonability of meth ane mixtures at a high initial pressure. The relevant work that has be en performed so Ear was based on a conventional source of ignition, i. e., a blasting cap. Following these initiation experiments at the Fren ch German Research Institute (ISL), two sets of experiments were perfo rmed in CH4/Air mixtures, at initial pressures in the range of 0.1 to 3.7 MPa, at the University of Washington (UW): (1) using a piston that directly enters the test section in the velocity range of 1100-1800 m s(-1) and (2) the piston impacts an intermediate section of CH4/O-2 An additional series of experiments was performed using an initiator sta ge of stoichiometric CH4/O-2 ignited by a 150 J conventional fuse cap.