[AR] Re: LOX-Methane Kabooms
- From: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 24 May 2016 23:13:52 -0700
On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 10:08 PM, Henry Vanderbilt
<hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Seems to me it might be worthwhile to come at this from the opposite
end: What conditions would be necessary to produce thorough mixing of
the majority of a vehicle's LOX-CH4 propellants, followed by detonation?
At least once in a test the tank valves opened without ignition and
the whole load of RP-1 and LOX drained out through the engine. The
mix was called gel and tended to be treated like nitroglycerine. In
this particular event (which I don't remember even what rocket it was
or when), the aftermath was a rocket sitting in a large pool of gel.
According to the story related to me, the test engineers just walked
away and waited a few hours till all the LOX evaporated.
There are people who have fun by filling two liter soda bottles with
LOX and propane. Apparently if you let the bottles warm up a little,
the propane becomes miscible with the LOX. If you shoot at the
bottles with a 30-06, about half the time they will detonate (with an
impressive bang). So apparently that hydrocarbon and LOX isn't as
sensitive as nitro. On the other hand, tracer ammo will set off such
mixes every time.
Keith
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