Ring-shaped electric discharge as an igniter of gas mixtures

Results are presented from experimental studies of ignition of a stoichiometric methane–oxygen mixture in a closed chamber by a ring electric discharge. It is shown that the process of fast (explosive) ignition of the reactor volume starts on the axis of the ring, near its centre, i.e. at a distance from the annular region of power deposition. Experimental evidence suggests that the ignition of a combustible gas mixture near the axis is triggered by strong gas-dynamic perturbations converging to the axis, radially propagating from the ring discharger.