  Self-sustained detonation waves in flake aluminum dust/air mixtures have been
studied in a tube of diameter 199 mm and length 32.4 m. A pressure sensor array
of 32 sensors mounted around certain circumferences of the tube was used to
measure the shape of the detonation front in the circumferential direction and
pressure histories of the detonation wave. A two-head spin detonation wave
front was observed for the aluminum dust/air mixtures, and the cellular
structure resulting from the spinning movement of the triple point was
analyzed. The variations in velocity and overpressure of the detonation wave
with propagation distance in a cell were studied. The interactions of waves in
triple-point configurations were analyzed and the flow-field parameters were
calculated. Three types of triple-point configuration exist in the wave front
of the detonation wave of an aluminum dust/air mixture. Both strong and weak
transverse waves exist in the unstable self-sustained detonation wave.
