Start Date
4-1976 8:00 AM
Description
During the design phase of large liquid launch vehicles, personnel safety considerations and facilities and equipment design criteria must account for the unlikely but potentially possible series of failures that would lead to unplanned, hazardous mixing of bulk quantities of propellants. Massive explosion and destruction might be a suspected result.
Simple theory of chemical energetics would predict explosive forces greater than equivalent weights of TNT (trinitrotoluene). Judicious use of "buffer" zone land and "facility or equipment "hardening" requirements dictates that new projects estimate potential explosive yields by precise, realistic analysis.
This paper highlights the work done by NASA to develop and confirm a precise analytical theory and predictive model for liquid propellant explosives. It covers a span of almost fifteen years work, most performed under Contract NAS10-1255 with the University of Florida. Dr. Eric A. Farber of the University and Mr. J. H. Deese of NASA-Kennedy Space Center conceived and conducted tests to establish a theory that autoignition occurs when pro- pellants mix in a certain "Critical Mass" or greater. The author participated in the latter phases of this work and was technical manager of Contract NAS10-8591. This contract was completed in May 1975 by Battelle Laboratories and describes quantitatively the physical phenomena taking place prior to autoignition.
Autoignition -A Liquid Propellant Explosive Potential Limiting Phenomena
During the design phase of large liquid launch vehicles, personnel safety considerations and facilities and equipment design criteria must account for the unlikely but potentially possible series of failures that would lead to unplanned, hazardous mixing of bulk quantities of propellants. Massive explosion and destruction might be a suspected result.
Simple theory of chemical energetics would predict explosive forces greater than equivalent weights of TNT (trinitrotoluene). Judicious use of "buffer" zone land and "facility or equipment "hardening" requirements dictates that new projects estimate potential explosive yields by precise, realistic analysis.
This paper highlights the work done by NASA to develop and confirm a precise analytical theory and predictive model for liquid propellant explosives. It covers a span of almost fifteen years work, most performed under Contract NAS10-1255 with the University of Florida. Dr. Eric A. Farber of the University and Mr. J. H. Deese of NASA-Kennedy Space Center conceived and conducted tests to establish a theory that autoignition occurs when pro- pellants mix in a certain "Critical Mass" or greater. The author participated in the latter phases of this work and was technical manager of Contract NAS10-8591. This contract was completed in May 1975 by Battelle Laboratories and describes quantitatively the physical phenomena taking place prior to autoignition.
Comments
Shuttle/ Technical Problems
Session Chairman: D. Buchanan, Associate Director for Design, NASA, Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
No other information or file available for this session.