Analysis of oblique shock-detonation wave interactions in the supersonic flow of a combustible medium

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77085/1/AIAA-1988-441-275.pd

The ground impulse generated by a plane fuel-air explosion with side relief

Detonations can be initiated in unconfined fuel-oxidizer clouds by blast waves of sufficient energy. The ground impulse generated by such detonations can cause considerable damage. An analytical theory is developed in the present paper, which makes it possible to predict this impulse, and experimental measurements which verify the theory are reported.A plane detonation wave propagating through a one-dimensional fuel-air cloud in contact with the ground and with the inert atmosphere at height h is considered. The wave is followed by an expansion wave which propagates from the inert gases into the combustion products, and an oblique shock is induced in the inert bounding the explosive. In computing the impulse only the region behind the detonation where the expansion is reflected from the ground is considered. The impulse per unit area is found to be the product of p2(h/C) and a universal impulse function Us([xi]), where p2 is the pressure behind the detonation and C is the Chapman-Jouguet velocity, and [xi] = x/l is the dimensionless distance from the detonation.Experimental values of the pressure and impulse behind a plane wave were obtained using a plastic bag, 4 x 4 x 20 ft long, filled with a stoichiometric MAPP-air mixture. The detonation was initiated using an explosive initiator at one end of the bag. Pressure transducers placed on the ground plane along the center of the bags were used to determine the variation of the pressure and impulse per unit area with time. Theory and experiment were found to be in excellent agreement.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23617/1/0000580.pd

Fluid-assisted grain size reduction leads to strain localization in oceanic transform faults

Oceanic Transform Faults are major plate boundaries representing the most seismogenic part of the mid ocean ridge system. Nonetheless, their structure and deformation mechanisms at depth are largely unknown due to rare exposures of deep sections. Here we study the mineral fabric of deformed mantle peridotites - ultramafic mylonites - collected from the transpressive Atobá ridge, along the northern fault of the St. Paul transform system in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean. We show that, at pressure and temperature conditions of the lower oceanic lithosphere, the dominant deformation mechanism is fluid-assisted dissolution-precipitation creep. Grain size reduction during deformation is enhanced by dissolution of coarser pyroxene grains in presence of fluid and contextual precipitation of small interstitial ones, leading to strain localization at lower stresses than dislocation creep. This mechanism potentially represents the dominant weakening factor in the oceanic lithosphere and a main driver for the onset and maintenance of oceanic transform faults

Transition from deflagration to detonation in layered dust explosions

Dust layers on the bottom of mine tunnels, on factory floors, or on the floors of grain elevator passages are the most frequent cause of highly destructive dust explosions. Typically, such layered dust explosions involve a high velocity, accelerating, turbulent flame which is fed by the dust layer and results in high destructive static and dynamic pressures. In some cases transition to detonation has been observed, and such explosions are the most destructive. Scientific studies of such layered dust explosions, conducted at the University of Michigan, are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/38590/1/680140408_ftp.pd

Detonability of RDX dust in air/oxygen mixtures

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77369/1/AIAA-9528-470.pd

Mineral carbonation of peridotite fueled by magmatic degassing and melt impregnation in an oceanic transform fault

Most of the geologic CO2 entering Earth's atmosphere and oceans is emitted along plate margins. While C-cycling at mid-ocean ridges and subduction zones has been studied for decades, little attention has been paid to degassing of magmatic CO2 and mineral carbonation of mantle rocks in oceanic transform faults. We studied the formation of soapstone (magnesite-talc rock) and other magnesite-bearing assemblages during mineral carbonation of mantle peridotite in the St. Paul's transform fault, equatorial Atlantic. Clumped carbonate thermometry of soapstone yields a formation (or equilibration) temperature of 147 ± 13 °C which, based on thermodynamic constraints, suggests that CO2(aq) concentrations of the hydrothermal fluid were at least an order of magnitude higher than in seawater. The association of magnesite with apatite in veins, magnesite with a δ13C of -3.40 ± 0.04‰, and the enrichment of CO2 in hydrothermal fluids point to magmatic degassing and melt-impregnation as the main source of CO2. Melt-rock interaction related to gas-rich alkali olivine basalt volcanism near the St. Paul's Rocks archipelago is manifested in systematic changes in peridotite compositions, notably a strong enrichment in incompatible elements with decreasing MgO/SiO2. These findings reveal a previously undocumented aspect of the geologic carbon cycle in one of the largest oceanic transform faults: Fueled by magmatism in or below the root zone of the transform fault and subsequent degassing, the fault constitutes a conduit for CO2-rich hydrothermal fluids, while carbonation of peridotite represents a vast sink for the emitted CO2

Transonic similarity solution for aligned field MHD nozzle flow

The transonic flow near the throat of a converging-diverging nozzle of a gas with infinite electrical conductivity is considered. The magnetic field B is everywhere aligned with the velocity q so that the equations describing the flow are reducible to those of ordinary gasdynamics. Thus, it is possible to utilize the transonic similarity solution of Tomotika and Tamada [3] to study aligned field magnetohydrodynamic flow near a nozzle throat. Only transonic flows are considered, and the structures of sub- and supersonic flows with speeds greater and less than the Alfvén speed are investigated.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42703/1/10665_2005_Article_BF01535358.pd

The shock wave ignition of dusts

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76582/1/AIAA-9095-997.pd

Eliminating Ditransitives

Abstract. We discuss how higher arity verbs such as give or promise can be treated in an algebraic framework that admits only unary and binary relations and does not rely on event variables