Deflagration-to-detonation transition under initiation by high-voltage nanosecond discharges

Abstract

Experimental study of detonation initiation by high-voltage pulsed gas discharges has been performed in three detonation tubes. It was shown in the experiments that distributed nanosecond discharge is significantly more efficient for detonation initiation than localized microsecond discharge of comparable energy. For a detailed experimental study of deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT), a detonation tube with a single discharge cell and nanosecond initiation has been assembled. Optical observation of the discharge development, ignition, and DDT process was performed with an intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera. A mechanism of detonation initiation by high-voltage nanosecond discharges has been proposed.