Status report on detonation/deflagration experiments, with particular regard to the goals of the PNP gas cloud program

The objective of the studies is the preparation of a status report which represents a survey of the overall complex of the problems of pressure waves with respect to the objectives of the PNP gas cloud program. In the status report, the present level of knowledge about problems of fast deflagrations and the transition from deflagration to detonation with initially faint ignition is pointed out as an essential point of the studies. On the basis of this knowledge, marginal conditions are deduced, for which a transition from deflagration to detonation has to be excluded and in which the influence of the gas release is also taken into account. The present level of knowledge is taken as a basis for the identification of subject-specific gaps and for suggestions for studies for filling in these gaps. Statements about the prospects, costs and time required for such studies aiming at an increased reliability in the assessment of accident risks are deduced. (orig./RB).