Maximum Pressure during Flame Propagation in a Closed Vessel Partially Filled with a Porous Medium

Abstract

Flame propagation in a closed vessel containing a stoichiometric propane–air mixture and partially filled with a porous medium was studied experimentally. The porous medium consisted of steel balls of diameter 3.2 and 6 mm and ceramic balls of diameter 6 mm. An experimental dependence of the maximum pressure during flame propagation in the vessel on the degree of filling of the vessel with the porous medium was obtained. Theoretical estimates of the pressure were made, which were in satisfactory agreement with the experimental data. The estimates closest to the data of the experiment are based on the assumption that the gas burns adiabatically in free space and is isothermally compressed in the porous medium. The influence of heat losses from the gas into the porous medium and the walls of the vessel on the maximum pressure was analyzed.