Effect of non-equilibrium plasma on decreasing the detonation cell size

The effect of a volumetric nanosecond discharge on detonation cell size was demonstrated experimentally in a detonation tube test rig. The experiments were performed in CH₄:O₂:Ar=1:2:2 and CH₄:O₂:Ar:H₂=3:7:8:2 mixtures, at 180 mbar and 120 mbar respectively and ambient temperature. The plasma was generated by two consecutive pulses of −50 and −32 kV amplitude on the high-voltage electrode and 25 ns pulse duration. The analysis of the detonation cell size with and without plasma generation was performed via sooted-plate technique. The detonation cell size was reduced by a factor of 1.5–3, while passing through the region of the discharge.