The cRPT Phenomenon: Theoretical Evaluations

• Main Authors: A. Di Benedetto, F. Cammarota, V. Di Sarli, E. Salzano, G. Russo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIDIC Servizi S.r.l. 2012-05-01
• Series: Chemical Engineering Transactions
• Online Access: https://www.cetjournal.it/index.php/cet/article/view/7444

We have recently showed that when exploding hydrocarbon fuels in highly oxygen-enriched air, the pressure-time history may display unexpected and anomalous behaviour in that oscillating signals and pressure peaks much higher than the adiabatic values (up to about 300 bar) were recorded. We addressed this anomalous behaviour, named combustion-induced Rapid Phase Transition, cRPT, to the occurrence of cycles of condensation/evaporation of water vapour on the walls of the vessel, followed by superheating of the liquid film due to radiation heat transfer from the flame, culminating in the water rapid phase transition. In this work we analyse this phenomenon by means of theoretical calculations of the characteristic times for the occurrence and intensity of such phenomenon.