Gaseous Detonations. XIII. Rotational and Vibrational Distributions of OH Radicals

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In an earlier paper in this series, some observations of the rotational temperature of OH radicals in the reaction zone of gaseous detonations were reported and interpreted as meaning that abnormal rotational excitation is produced by extremely fast chemical reactions. In the present study new experiments were made on detonations of C2H2+2½O2 and CO+H2+O2 mixtures. An improved method of data reduction was developed and applied to both the new and the previously reported experiments. It is concluded that in all reported experiments the vibrational and rotational distributions of OH remain the same within experimental errors from the front of the wave to beyond the C‐J plane. This is tentatively attributed to the turbulent gas flow behind the detonation front which restricts the usefulness of the present method, rather than to abnormal distributions in the reaction zone caused by fast chemical reactions.

This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit: