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Hydrogen-Air-Diluent Detonation Study for Nuclear Reactor Safety Analyses (NUREG/CR-5525)

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Publication Information
Abstract

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NUREG/CR-5525 (PDF - 4.08 MB)

Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: December 1990
Date Published: January 1991

Prepared by
D. W. Stamps, W. B. Benedick, S. R. Tieszen

Sandia National Laboratories
Albuquerque, NM 87185-5800

Prepared for
Division of Systems Research
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555
NRC FIN A1246

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Abstract

The detonability of hydrogen-air-diluent mixtures was investigated experimentally in the 0.43 m diameter, 13.1 m long Heated Detonation Tube (HDT) for the effects of variations in hydrogen anddiluent concentration, initial pressure, and initial temperature. The data were correlated using a ZND chemical kinetics model. The detonation limits in the HDT were obtained experimentally for lean and rich hydrogen-air mixtures and stoichiometric hydrogen-air-steam mixtures.

The addition of a diluent, such as steam or carbon dioxide, increases the detonation cell width for all mixtures. In general, an increase in the initial pressure or temperature produces a decrease in the cell width. In the HDT, the detonable range of hydrogen in a hydrogen-air mixture initially at 1 atm pressure is ,between 11.6 percent and 74.9 percent for mixtures at, 20°C, and 9.4 percent and 76.9 percent for mixtures at 100°C." The detonation limit is between 38.8 percent and 40.5 percent steam, for a stoichiometric hydrogen-air-steam mixture initially at 1000C and 1 atm. The detonation limit is between 29.6 percent and 31.9 percent steam for a stoichiometric hydrogen-air-steam mixture for the case where hydrogen and steam are added to air initially at 20°C and, 1 atm resulting in a final predetonation mixture temperature and pressure of approximately 100°C and 2.6 atm, respectively.