Hydrogen Detonation in a Flat Semi-Confined Layer

Hydrogen accumulation at the top of the containment or reactor building may occur due to an interaction of molten corium and water followed by a severe accident of a nuclear reactor (TMI, Chernobyl, Fukushima Dai-ichi). Hydrogen accumulates usually in a containment of nuclear reactor as a stratified semi-confined layer of hydrogen-air mixture. Detonation of such mixture may lead to significant damage of the containment structure. A series of large scale experiments on hydrogen combustion and detonation in a semi-confined layer of uniform and non-uniform hydrogen-air mixtures in presence of obstructions or without them was performed at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Critical conditions for deflagration-to-detonation transition and then for steady state detonation propagation were experimentally evaluated in a flat semi-confined layer. The experiments were performed in a horizontal semi-confined layer with dimensions of 9×3×0.6 m with/without obstacles opened from below. The hydrogen concentration in the mixtures with air was varied in the range of 0–34 vol.% without or with a gradient of 0–1.1 mol. %H₂/cm. Effects of hydrogen concentration gradient, thickness of the layer, geometry of the obstructions, average and maximum hydrogen concentration on critical conditions for detonation onset and then propagation were investigated with respect to the safety analysis. Blast wave strength and mechanical response of the safety volume was experimentally measured as well.