A Comparative Study of Detonability and Propensity to Sustain High-speed Turbulent Deflagrations in Hydrogen and Methane Mixtures

We’ve studied the conditions enabling a detonation to be quenched when interacting with an obstruction and the propensity for establishing subsequent fast-flame. Oxy-hydrogen detonations were found quench more easily than oxy-methane detonations, when comparing the ratio of gap size and the detonation cell size. High-speed turbulent deflagrations that re-accelerate back to a detonation were only observed in methane-oxygen mixtures. Separate hot-spot ignition calculations revealed that the higher detonability of methane correlates with its stronger propensity to develop localized hot-spots. The results suggest that fast-flames are more difficult to form in hydrogen than in methane mixtures.