Triggering and escalation behavior of thermal detonations

For the description of large scale vapor explosions a transient model based on the thermal detonation theory was used. In the multiphase description of the thermal detonation wave a detailed model of the hydrodynamic fragmentation due to stripping of shear flow induced waves is included which assures the best estimate of the energy source term. For a given corium-water mixture and a solid wall as boundary condition, the escalating behavior of the detonation waves is examined under variation of the ignition energy. Thus, escalation length and time needed to reach a steady state behavior can be obtained. Additionally, a comparison with the results of a steady state model, including the same fragmentation description, helps to prove the consistency of both models, especially concerning the stability criterion used by the steady state model