High-Speed Combustion in Gaseous Condensed-Phase Energetic Materials

High-speed combustion of gaseous reactants displays a variety of phenomena, including flame acceleration, deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT), detonation instability, and quenching. The equations of reactive gasdynamics provide a reasonable model for a study of these phenomena. The state of affairs is far from satisfactory for condensed-phase explosives, however. The range of observed behavior is substantially broader for this class of materials, especially when these are in a granular or porous form. Deflagrations can travel at elevated speeds, the materials are more sensitive to applied stimuli, and there is an increased propensity for DDT. The mechanical response of the material is richer, and it couples strongly with the confinement, the chemistry, and the energetics to determine the course of combustion.

The recognition that porosity may appear unintentionally (through degradation over time or through accidental damage), and lead to unexpected behavior, has lent some urgency to the need for improved quantitative understanding of the manner in which energetic materials combust. Considerations of safety demand, in particular, the capacity to identify the mechanical or thermal loadings that will, or will not, lead to a detonation.

When a detonation IS the desired goal, there is the need to determine, precisely and economically, the locus of the detonation front, especially as it negotiates corners and obstacles, or propagates through ducts of varying cross section.

This workshop will bring together experimental scientists, theorists currently developing continuum, micromechanical as well as molecular models, applied mathematicians exploring the structure and properties of the models, as well as experts devising and implementing appropriate computational strategies. The aim is to describe current approaches, identify recent successes, and highlight the challenges that remain in the general area of combustion of energetic materials.

Although the main emphasis will be on the condensed phase, issues relating to high-speed combustion in gaseous materials will receive attention as well.