Fuel Air Explosives

The Army s 15,000 pound Daisy Cutter bomb and the spectacular fireball explosions we see in the movies are the two most familiar examples of the phenomena known as the fuel air explosive. The internal combustion engine could be added to this short list of familiar examples, but its workings are out of sight of the driver. Most people are not conscious of the fact that when they step on that accelerator pedal, they are gliding along due to the force generated by a series of fuel air explosions. 

The military fuel air bomb is more complicated, but works along the same principles as the first two examples. The typical fuel air bomb consists of a mass of fuel which surrounds a core of conventional explosive. This core is the bursting charge for 

The simplest large scale fuel air device which one could construct is a few cylinders of acetylene and oxygen nestled into a mass of high explosive. Acetylene is explosive in its own 

Once the container has been emptied, drill a small hole through the center of 

Glue the M-80 into place on the inside of the lid using Elmer s Glue, bathtub caulk, or epoxy glue. The glue should completely seal off the fuse from contact with the atmosphere which will be formed inside the jug. It would be anticlimactic for premature 

The first recorded dust explosion occurred when a bakery storeroom exploded in a small city called Turin (Italy) way back in 1785. Such an explosion is also labeled as thermobaric , a chemical reaction that produces extremely high pressure and heat very rapidly. In the early 1960s, scientists began experimenting with this concept to produce a weapon that uses the same principle, but employs volatile gases and finely powered explosives. 

Ethylene oxide is an important fuel for FAEs and has proved its potential as one of the best fuels for them. It has wide explosive limits and low boiling point (10.5 °C) which facilitates its vaporization faster at room temperature and results in the formation of a cloud with air which is detonated. However, EO has a tendency to polymerize during storage thereby decreasing its shelf-life as well as the performance of EO-based weapons. The phenomenon of polymerization of EO, effect of temperature and materials of construction of weapons on polymerization and retardation of EO polymerization by the addition of well-known anti-oxidants have been studied by Agrawal et al. [293]. The addition of anti-oxidants retards EO polymerization and enhances the shelf-life of EO but does not meet the requirements of the Services, stipulating a shelf-life of minimum 10 years for 

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Ethylene oxide has been studied for use as a rocket fuel (276) and as a component in munitions (277). It has been reported to be used as a fuel in FAE (fuel air explosive) bombs (278). 

Moen, I. O., J. W. Funk, S. A. Ward, G. M. Rude, and P. A. Thibault. 1984. Detonation length scales for fuel-air explosives. Prog. Astronaut. Aeronaut. 94 55-79. 

The conclusions of Guirao et al. (1979) were fully in line with an earlier paper by Fishbum (1976). Fishbum (1976) analyzed the effectiveness of blast generation for several different designs for a fuel-air explosion ... 

The fuel-air explosion produced, in a large area covered by the cloud, substantially higher blast pressures than would be expected from a 100,000-kg TNT surface blast. 

Fishbum, B. 1976. Some aspects of blast from fuel-air explosives. Acta Astronautica. 3 1049-1065. 

Guirao, C. M., G. G. Bach, and J. H. S. Lee. 1979. On the scaling of blast waves from fuel-air explosives. 6th Symp. on Blast Simulation. Cahors, France. 

Hogan, W. J. 1982. The liquefied gaseous fuels spill effects program a status report. Fuel-air explosions, pp. 949-968, Waterloo University of Waterloo Press. 

Guirao and Bach (1979) used the flux-corrected transport method (a finite-difference method) to calculate blast from fuel-air explosions (see also Chapter 4). Three of their calculations were of a volumetric explosion, that is, an explosion in which the unbumed fuel-air mixture is instantaneously transformed into combustion gases. By this route, they obtained spheres whose pressure ratios (identical with temperature ratios) were 8.3 to 17.2, and whose ratios of specific heats were 1.136 to 1.26. Their calculations of shock overpressure compare well with those of Baker et al. (1975). In addition, they calculated the work done by the expanding contact surface between combustion products and their surroundings. They found that only 27% to 37% of the combustion energy was translated into work. 

Bonanno, Proceedings of the Fuel-Air Explosives Conference (1st), 27 thru 29 October 1971. Volume 1, Book T, Rept No AFATL-TR-71-171-Vol l-Bk-2 (1971) 5) E.B. Vanta et al,... 

Aerosol Detonating Fuze for a Fuel-Air Explosive Munition , AFATL-TR-73-31, Contract, F08635-72-C-0213, Beech Aircraft Corp, Boulder (1973) 7) H.W. Brown Jr, Development... 

Tests of a High-Speed Nonretarded Fuel-Air Explosive (FAE) , Rept No ADTC-TR-73-93, Elgin AFB (1973) 8) R.C. Weaver et al,... 

The transition of deflagration to detonation in mixtures was studied with respect to mixing ratio, pressure and spark energy [1], A study of TNT equivalences in propylene oxide fuel/air explosives is made [2],... 

Energy of explosion. The energy of explosion values given in Table 16.2 should be considered as the theoretical maxima, and yield factors of 10% are considered reasonable for fuel-air explosions. For equivalent volume storage, hydrogen has the least theoretical explosive potential of the three fuels considered, albeit it has the highest heat of combustion and explosive potential on a mass basis. 

FAE - Fuel Air Explosives, Brennstoff-Luft Sprengstoffe, Druckwellensprengstoffe... 

Liquid Air and Liquid Oxygen Explosives originally consisted of porous combustible materials impregnated with liquid air. Soon after liq oxygen became commercially available it began to replace liq air in these explosives. Consequently this article is devoted almost entirely to Liquid Oxygen Explosives commonly called LOX. It should be noted that LOX are not to be confused with Fuel-Air Explosives (See FAE in Vol 6, p F3). 

FAE and FAX (Fuel-Air-Explosives). The acronym of the US Fuel-Air Explosives Program which has been changed from FAX to FAE to prevent confusion with Fighter-Aircraft Experimental (FAX) Program. FAE represents (he entire fuel-air explosives program, including current projects... 

Special Report Fuel Air Explosives", Aviation Week Space Technology, pp 42—46 (19 Feb 1973) 14) L.H. Josephson,... 

Mechanisms and Utility of Fuel-Air Explosives", Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, Calif TP 5444 (Feb 1973) (Not used as a source of info) 15) Staff, AOA Newsletter, The Common Defense", p 2 (16 April 1973)... 

Grau, L.W., and Smith, T. (2000) A Crushing Victory Fuel-Air-Explosives and Grozny 2000, Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth,... 

Lee, J.M., et al. (1977) Fundamental mechanisms of unconfined detonation of fuel-air-explosives. Proc. AFOSR Contractors Meeting on Unconfined... 

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