Discrete-continual model of flame propagation in a gas suspension of metal particles. I. One-dimensional approximation

Experimental data on combustion of magnesium particles in oxygen-containing gas mixtures are analyzed and generalized, which allowed us to develop a semi-empirical mathematical model that takes into account the integral effect of the initial particle size, pressure, and velocity of the oxidizing flow on combustion. Flame propagation in an air suspension of fine magnesium particles is considered in a one-dimensional approximation. For this purpose, a discrete-continual model of flame propagation in a gas suspension of metal particles is developed. The flammability limits in a vessel, caused by heat losses into the ambient medium and by spatial nonuniformity of the distribution of disperse-phase particles, are numerically determined, and the influence of nonuniformity and bidispersion of a one-dimensional ensemble of particles on flame characteristics is studied.__________Translated from Fizika Goreniya i Vzryva, Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 81–93, March–April, 2005.