FZK 12m Tube

Programme: Nuclear Waste Management, Safety and Radiation Research (NUSAFE)

The 12m FZK tube is used to study combustion processes in hydrogen-air mixtures. Especially quenching, flame acceleration and deflagration-
to-detonation-transition (DDT) are investigated.

Combustion processes in hydrogen air mixtures can proceed at very different speeds. The different combustion regimes result in large differences in the mechanical and thermal loads imposed by the combustion process. In order to evaluate, whether a system can withstand the imposed combustion loads, it is necessary to predict the loads with high accuracy. The main parameters controlling the combustion process are chemical composition of the mixture, initial conditions and location and size of turbulence generating obstacles. The test facility allows to vary these parameters systematically and independently. The results of these experiments are used to validate the models in our numerical combustion codes.