Study of a Thermal Detonation Wave in a Mixture of Water Droplets and Molten Lead

Abstract

The regularities of the wave of the thermal interaction of water drops in high-temperature molten lead, i.e., a thermal-detonation wave, are studied. Due to the boiling of water on the surface of molten lead, both liquids (phases) are separated by a vapor film. A one-dimensional model of interacting and interpenetrating continua is used, which describes the dynamics of each fluid by introducing a special field characterized by its own velocity, temperature, and volume fraction. The wave velocity is set by the equality of phase velocities and temperatures in the Chapman–Jouguet plane. The parameters at the pressure peak are calculated from the conditions at the discontinuity which are the boundary conditions for integrating the conservation equations in the area of interaction between water droplets and the melt. The resulting structure of the thermal-detonation wave is characterized by the maximum pressure being located at some distance from the shock wave.