Two-dimensional nozzle-generated reactive blast waves

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Abstract
Cylindrical reactive blast waves were generated in a rectangular shock tube by the incidence of a detonation wave on a two-dimensional converging-diverging nozzle, with a narrow throat, placed in the tube. The observed trajectories of the shock front and reaction zone in the diverging section show that the blast wave behaves in a similar manner to that of the lead shock in a detonation cell. One particular similarity is the abrupt rate of decay that occurs in both types of waves following the decoupling of the exothermic reaction zone from the frontal shock. From the post-shock density field, obtained by a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and the velocity profile, it is shown how the locus of the reaction zone may be calculated. A comparison is made of the predicted and observed reaction zone trajectories for oxyacetylene at an initial pressure of 15 Torr; these agree well for an assumed value of the activation energy of 71 kJ mol-1 for this system. It is suggested that the nozzle technique could be used for induction-delay measurements in detonation waves.

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