Imaging the Reactive Flow Structure Evolution in Shock-compressed Nitromethane and Nitromethane With Additives

Erin Nissen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Photo of Erin Nissen

A tabletop laser-driven flyer plate was used to generate planar shock waves in miniature liquid cuvettes to produce detonations in pure liquid nitromethane (NM) and NM with sensitizing and inert additives. Photon Doppler velocimetry (PDV) was used to track both the flyer velocity and particle velocity at the lid/NM interface. Images were taken using a 5-ns gated sCMOS camera at different times to analyze the flow structure evolution as a function of impact velocity and additive. Three distinct flow structure regimes were found to be controlled by impact velocity in pure NM, while the additives seem to control the size of the cellular structures and may even be used to calculate the reaction zone length to corroborate PDV measurements. Molecular layers that inhibit or enhance the shock chemistry were patterned on the lid interface in contact with NM in an attempt to control the shock to detonation time and cellular structures.

Abstract Author(s): Erin J. Nissen, Mithun Bhowmick, Dana D. Dlott