TNT detonation on Kaho'olawe Island during Operation Sailor Hat, shot Bravo, 1965

Detonation () is a type of

combustion Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combus ...

involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a

shock front In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in the medium. Like an ordinary wave, a shock wave carries energy and can propagate through a med ...

propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with speeds in the range of 1 km/sec and differ from deflagrations which have subsonic flame speeds in the range of 1 m/sec. Detonations occur in both conventional solid and liquid explosives, as well as in reactive gases. The

velocity of detonation Explosive velocity, also known as detonation velocity or velocity of detonation (VoD), is the velocity at which the shock wave front travels through a detonated explosive. Explosive velocities are always faster than the local speed of sound in the ...

in solid and liquid explosives is much higher than that in gaseous ones, which allows the wave system to be observed with greater detail (higher resolution). A very wide variety of fuels may occur as gases (e.g.

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...

), droplet fogs, or dust suspensions. In addition to dioxygen, oxidants can include halogen compounds, ozone, hydrogen peroxide and

oxides of nitrogen Nitrogen oxide may refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds: Charge-neutral *Nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen(II) oxide, or nitrogen monoxide *Nitrogen dioxide (), nitrogen(IV) oxide * Nitrogen trioxide (), or n ...

. Gaseous detonations are often associated with a mixture of fuel and oxidant in a composition somewhat below conventional flammability ratios. They happen most often in confined systems, but they sometimes occur in large vapor clouds. Other materials, such as acetylene,

ozone Ozone (), or trioxygen, is an inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , breaking down in the lo ...

, and

hydrogen peroxide Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscous than water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usually as a dilute solution (3%� ...

are detonable in the absence of an oxidant (or reductant). In these cases the energy released results from the rearrangement of the molecular constituents of the material. Detonation was discovered in 1881 by four French scientists

Marcellin Berthelot Pierre Eugène Marcellin Berthelot (; 25 October 1827 – 18 March 1907) was a French chemist and Republican politician noted for the ThomsenBerthelot principle of thermochemistry. He synthesized many organic compounds from inorganic substa ...

and

Paul Marie Eugène Vieille Paul Marie Eugène Vieille (2 September 1854 – 14 January 1934) was a French chemist who invented modern nitrocellulose-based smokeless gunpowder in 1884. He was a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique. Impact The new smokeless powder, called ...

and

Ernest-François Mallard Ernest-François Mallard (4 February 1833 – 6 July 1894) was a French mineralogist and a member of the French Academy of Sciences. He is also notable for his work with Henri Louis Le Chatelier in combustion as applied to mining safety.< ...

and

Henry Louis Le Chatelier Henry Louis Le Chatelier (; 8 October 1850 – 17 September 1936) was a French chemist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He devised Le Chatelier's principle, used by chemists and chemical engineers to predict the effect a changing conditi ...

. The mathematical predictions of propagation were carried out first by David Chapman in 1899 and by Émile Jouguet in 1905, 1906 and 1917. The next advance in understanding detonation was made by

John von Neumann John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...

and

Werner Döring Werner Döring (2 September 1911, Berlin – 6 June 2006, Malente) was a German theoretical physicist. From 1963 until his retirement in 1977, he was an ordinary professor at the University of Hamburg. His main interest was the theory of magnetism. ...

in the early 1940s and Yakov B. Zel'dovich and

Aleksandr Solomonovich Kompaneets Alexander Solomonovich Kompaneyets (Russian: Александр Соломонович Компанеец) was born on January 4, 1914 in Ekaterinoslav, Russian Empire (now Dnipro, Ukraine) and died on August 19, 1974 in Palanga, Lithuania. He was ...

in the 1960s.

Theories

The simplest theory to predict the behaviour of detonations in gases is known as Chapman-Jouguet (CJ) theory, developed around the turn of the 20th century. This theory, described by a relatively simple set of algebraic equations, models the detonation as a propagating shock wave accompanied by exothermic heat release. Such a theory describes the chemistry and diffusive transport processes as occurring abruptly as the shock passes. A more complex theory was advanced during World War II independently by Zel'dovich,

von Neumann Von Neumann may refer to: * John von Neumann (1903–1957), a Hungarian American mathematician * Von Neumann family * Von Neumann (surname), a German surname * Von Neumann (crater), a lunar impact crater See also * Von Neumann algebra * Von Ne ...

, and Döring. This theory, now known as

ZND theory The ZND detonation model is a one-dimensional model for the process of detonation of an explosive. It was proposed during World War II independently by Y. B. Zel'dovich, John von Neumann, and Werner Döring, hence the name. This model admits fin ...

, admits finite-rate chemical reactions, and thus describes a detonation as an infinitesimally thin shock wave, followed by a zone of exothermic chemical reaction. With a reference frame of a stationary shock, the following flow is subsonic, so that an acoustic reaction zone follows immediately behind the lead front, the Chapman-Jouguet condition. Continued in There is also some evidence that the reaction zone is semi-metallic in some explosives. Both theories describe one-dimensional and steady wave fronts. However, in the 1960s, experiments revealed that gas-phase detonations were most often characterized by unsteady, three-dimensional structures, which can only, in an averaged sense, be predicted by one-dimensional steady theories. Indeed, such waves are quenched as their structure is destroyed. The Wood-Kirkwood detonation theory can correct for some of these limitations. Experimental studies have revealed some of the conditions needed for the propagation of such fronts. In confinement, the range of composition of mixes of fuel and oxidant and self-decomposing substances with inerts are slightly below the flammability limits and, for spherically expanding fronts, well below them. The influence of increasing the concentration of diluent on expanding individual detonation cells has been elegantly demonstrated. Similarly their size grows as the initial pressure falls. Since cell widths must be matched with minimum dimension of containment, any wave overdriven by the initiator will be quenched. Mathematical modeling has steadily advanced to predicting the complex flow fields behind shocks inducing reactions. To date, none has adequately described how structure is formed and sustained behind unconfined waves.

Applications

When used in explosive devices, the main cause of damage from a detonation is the supersonic blast front (a powerful shock wave) in the surrounding area. This is a significant distinction from deflagrations where the exothermic wave is subsonic and maximum pressures for non-metal dusts are approximately 7 - 10 times atmospheric pressure. Therefore, detonation is a feature for destructive purpose while deflagration is favored for the acceleration of firearms' projectiles. However, detonation waves may also be used for less destructive purposes, including deposition of coatings to a surface or cleaning of equipment (e.g. slag removal) and even explosively welding together metals that would otherwise fail to fuse. Pulse detonation engines use the detonation wave for aerospace propulsion. The first flight of an aircraft powered by a pulse detonation engine took place at the Mojave Air & Space Port on January 31, 2008.

In engines and firearms

Unintentional detonation when deflagration is desired is a problem in some devices. In

Otto cycle An Otto cycle is an idealized thermodynamic cycle that describes the functioning of a typical spark ignition piston engine. It is the thermodynamic cycle most commonly found in automobile engines. The Otto cycle is a description of what hap ...

, or gasoline engines it is called engine knocking or pinging or pinking or pre-ignition, and it causes a loss of power, excessive heating, and harsh mechanical shock that can result in eventual engine failure. In firearms, it may cause catastrophic and potentially lethal failure. Pulse detonation engines are a form of pulsed jet engine that have been experimented with on several occasions as this offers the potential for good fuel efficiency.

References

External links

Youtube video demonstrating physics of a blast wave

{{Authority control Explosives engineering Combustion