The influence of the flow of the reacting gas on the conditions for a Thermal Explosion

Fuente: arXiv
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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Barenblatt, G. I., Chorin, A. J., Kast, A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 1999
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author Barenblatt, G. I.
Chorin, A. J.
Kast, A.
author_facet Barenblatt, G. I.
Chorin, A. J.
Kast, A.
contents The classical problem of thermal explosion is modified so that the chemically active gas is not at rest but is flowing in a long cylindrical pipe. Up to a certain section the heat-conducting walls of the pipe are held at low temperature so that the reaction rate is small and there is no heat release; at that section the ambient temperature is increased and an exothermic reaction begins. The question is whether a slow reaction regime will be established or a thermal explosion will occur. The mathematical formulation of the problem is presented. It is shown that when the pipe radius is larger than a critical value, the solution of the new problem exists only up to a certain distance along the axis. The critical radius is determined by conditions in a problem with a uniform axial temperature. The loss of existence is interpreted as a thermal explosion; the critical distance is the safe reactor's length. Both laminar and developed turbulent flow regimes are considered. In a computational experiment the loss of the existence appears as a divergence of a numerical procedure; numerical calculations reveal asymptotic scaling laws with simple powers for the critical distance.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_math_9909105
institution arXiv
publishDate 1999
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The influence of the flow of the reacting gas on the conditions for a Thermal Explosion
Barenblatt, G. I.
Chorin, A. J.
Kast, A.
Numerical Analysis
The classical problem of thermal explosion is modified so that the chemically active gas is not at rest but is flowing in a long cylindrical pipe. Up to a certain section the heat-conducting walls of the pipe are held at low temperature so that the reaction rate is small and there is no heat release; at that section the ambient temperature is increased and an exothermic reaction begins. The question is whether a slow reaction regime will be established or a thermal explosion will occur. The mathematical formulation of the problem is presented. It is shown that when the pipe radius is larger than a critical value, the solution of the new problem exists only up to a certain distance along the axis. The critical radius is determined by conditions in a problem with a uniform axial temperature. The loss of existence is interpreted as a thermal explosion; the critical distance is the safe reactor's length. Both laminar and developed turbulent flow regimes are considered. In a computational experiment the loss of the existence appears as a divergence of a numerical procedure; numerical calculations reveal asymptotic scaling laws with simple powers for the critical distance.
title The influence of the flow of the reacting gas on the conditions for a Thermal Explosion
topic Numerical Analysis
url https://arxiv.org/abs/math/9909105