Detonation initiation of JP-8-oxygen mixtures at different initial temperatures

Liquid fuel with sufficient vapor proportion at micron scale is essentially required to increase specific energy density and reduce volume requirements for application of pulse detonation engine. For JP-8, the fully vaporized temperature ranges from 380 to 410 K. In this study, the fuel vapor with oxygen is not enough to induce the reaction and leads to failure of detonation initiation at the initial temperature of 373 K. Condensed fuel was also observed on the bottom of detonation tube. At 393 K, the detonation wave was successfully generated even though a portion of fuel was in a liquid state. The deflagration-to-detonation run-up distance and the pressure trace at fully vaporized conditions, in which the initial temperatures were at 413, 433, and 453 K, were similar to those of gaseous mixtures, such as propane-oxygen mixture.