The characterization of heat transfer fluid P-NF aerosol combustion: Ignitable region and flame development

Heat transfer fluids tend to form aerosols due to the operating conditions at high pressure when accidental leaking occurs in pipelines or storage vessels, which may cause serious fires and explosions. Due to the physical property complexity of aerosols, it is difficult to define a standard term of “flammability limits” as is possible for gases. The study discussed in this paper primarily focuses on the characterization of ignition conditions and flame development of heat transfer fluid aerosols. The flammable region of a widely-used commercial heat transfer fluid, Paratherm NF (P-NF), was analyzed by electro-spray generation with a laser diffraction particle analysis method. The aerosol ignition behavior depends on the droplet size and concentration of the aerosol. From the adjustment of differently applied electro-spray voltages (7–10 kV) and various liquid feeding rates, a flammable condition distribution was obtained by comparison of droplet size and concentration. An appropriate amount (0.3–1.2 ppm) of smaller droplets (80–110 μm) existing in a given space could result in successful flame formation, while larger droplets (up to 190 μm) have a relatively narrowed range of flammable conditions (0.7–0.9 ppm). It is possible to generate a more useful reference for industry and lab scale consideration when handling liquids. This paper provides initial flammability criteria for analyzing P-NF aerosol fire hazards in terms of droplet size and volumetric concentration, discusses the observation of aerosol combustion processes, and summarizes an ignition delay phenomenon. All of the fundamental study results are to be applied to practical cases with fire hazards analysis, pressurized liquid handling, and mitigation system design once there is a better understanding of aerosols formed by high-flash point materials.     

超音速虹吸式空气雾化喷嘴雾化影响因素实验研究*

为掌握超音速虹吸式空气雾化喷嘴雾化机理及特性,采用流体力学线性不稳定理论分析雾化机理,通过喷雾实验研究不同因素对雾化性能的影响及对比不同类型喷嘴的雾化效果。研究结果表明:随着距喷嘴出口距离增加,超音速虹吸式空气雾化喷嘴在雾滴破碎后碰撞聚合作用由强到弱,300 mm内雾滴粒径增长速率明显,300 mm外雾滴粒径增长速率较缓。随着供气压力增加,超音速虹吸式空气雾化喷嘴雾滴粒径逐渐减小,在实测距离内SMD（平均粒径）最小为17.5 μm。不同供气压力下,超音速虹吸式空气雾化喷嘴随距离增加,雾滴粒径增长趋势基本一致。有效射程内供气压力为0.1~0.5 MPa时,SMD仅为17.5~31.16 μm。对比实验中,超音速虹吸式空气雾化喷嘴SMD比内混式空气雾化喷嘴和X旋流型压力喷嘴小53.5%~74.0%。     

金属丝网对甲烷/空气预混火焰管道内传播的影响

为研究管道内金属丝网对甲烷/空气预混火焰传播的影响,通过实验和三维数值模拟研究安装金属丝网的管道内火焰传播特性以及流场、温度场的变化。结果表明:40目4层的金属丝网可以使火焰淬熄,30目4层的金属丝网无法淬熄,但可以使火焰停滞3 ms;大涡模型可以很好地对管道内火焰淬熄现象进行模拟;当火焰穿过30目4层金属丝网时,速度增大,在Kelvin Helmholtz不稳定和Rayleigh Taylor不稳定的耦合作用下形成湍流;金属丝网的目数会影响热量在丝网层中的扩散,当金属丝网为30目4层时,火焰热量扩散快,而当金属丝网为40目4层时,火焰热量扩散慢且温度大幅度衰减,衰减率达到83%。     

Flammability of heat transfer fluid aerosols produced by electrospray measured by laser diffraction analysis

Accidental release of pressurized high flash point heat transfer fluids can result in fire and explosion hazard scenarios in the process industry. An experimental investigation on ignition of aerosols of a heat transfer fluid is carried out, and characterization of aerosol and its ignition process by non-intrusive laser diffraction technique is reported. Propagation speed of the aerosol combustion flame front as analyzed from the laser diffraction measurement agrees with high-speed visual camera observation. Flammability of the aerosol, which is based on the chances of the global flame appearance in the aerosol, is mainly controlled by aerosol droplet size and the droplet volume concentration.     

Large eddy simulation and experimental study of the effect of wire mesh on flame behaviours of methane/air explosions in a semi-confined pipe

Preventing the propagation of flames in a pipeline is an effective measure for avoiding gas explosion accidents and reducing losses. To evaluate the effect of wire mesh, acting as a porous media, experimental and simulation studies are conducted to determine the influence of the wire mesh on the dynamics of premixed methane/air flame propagation in a semi-closed pipe. Four different kinds of wire mesh with different numbers of layers are chosen in the experiments and simulation, and the mechanism of wire mesh quenching of the flame is investigated. The experimental and simulation results are consistent. Flames are quenched when 4 layers of 40-mesh or 3 layers of 60-mesh wire mesh are used; however, once the flame propagates through the wire mesh, the risk of methane combustion may increase. The wire mesh becomes the key factor causing flame folds and acceleration, and the greater the number of layers or the larger the mesh size is, the more obvious the folds after the flame passes through the wire mesh. Moreover, the combination of heat absorption and disruption of the continuous flame surface by the mesh causes flame quenching. Wire mesh can effectively attenuate the flame temperature during premixed flame propagation in a pipe, and the attenuated maximum rate reaches approximately 79% in the case of adding 3 layers of 60-mesh wire mesh.     

Prediction of minimum ignition energy of aerosols using flame kernel modeling combined with flame front propagation theory

Flammable aerosols have created many fire and explosion hazards in the process industry, but the flammability of aerosols has not been fully understood. The minimum ignition energy has been widely used as an indicator for flammability of combustible mixtures, but the amount of experimental data on the minimum ignition energy of aerosols is very limited. In this work, the minimum ignition energy of tetralin aerosols is predicted using an integrated model. The model applies the flame front propagation theory in aerosol systems to the growth of the flame kernel, which was created during the spark discharge in the ignition process. The aerosol minimum ignition energy was defined as the minimum level of energy in the initial flame kernel to maintain the kernel temperature above the minimum ignition temperature of 1073 K specific for tetralin aerosols during the kernel growth. The minimum ignition energy obtained in the model is influenced by the fuel-air equivalence ratio and the size of the aerosol droplets. For tetralin aerosols of 40 μm diameter, E_min decreases significantly from 0.32 mJ to 4.3 × 10 e⁻³ mJ when the equivalence ratio rises from 0.57 to 1.0. For tetralin aerosols of 0.57 equivalence ratio, E_min increases from as 0.09 mJ to 0.32 mJ when the droplet diameter rises from 10 μm to 60 μm. The trends are in agreement with previous experimental observations. The method used in current work has the potential to prediction of the minimum ignition energy of aerosol.     

水雾作用下气体爆炸火焰传播的实验研究

利用自行设计的全程透明的火焰加速管和水喷雾系统，对不同水雾条件下的气体火焰传播现象进行了实验研究。运用光电传感器与数字摄像技术分析了不同浓度的甲烷在不同水雾条件下的火焰传播速度、火焰阵面轨迹以及火焰结构特性，并通过对传播火焰反应区温度的测量，探讨了水雾抑制气体爆炸火焰传播的内在机理及所需的条件。实验结果表明：由于水雾作用于火焰反应区，降低了火焰反应区内的温度和气体燃烧速度，延长火焰阵面的预热区，减缓火焰阵面传热与传质的进行，从而使传播火焰得以抑制。水雾对气体爆炸火焰传播的抑制效果与水雾流量速度、雾区浓度以及火焰到达水雾区的火焰传播速度有关。     

Wire-mesh inhibition of jet fire induced by explosion venting

Explosion venting is widely applied in industrial explosion-proof designs due to the convenient, economical and practical features of this method. Natural gas is usually stored in storage tanks. If the gas in the vessel is mixed with air and encounters an ignition source, explosion venting might occur, producing jet fire, generating new secondary derivative accidents and causing casualties and property losses. In this paper, a set of test platforms including wire-mesh suppression devices is established to study the inhibition of jet fire induced by explosion venting by wire mesh. The experimental research shows that a wire mesh significantly inhibits the jet fire induced by explosion venting. The flame propagation velocity and pressure clearly decrease with increasing numbers of wire-mesh layers. The wire-mesh structure significantly affects the flame propagation, and the more layers of mesh there are, the better the suppression effect is. The flame temperature gradually decreases with the addition of the wire mesh. The mesh size significantly affects the pressure propagation of explosion venting. The explosion pressure gradually decreases with the addition of the wire mesh. With increasing distance between the wire mesh and the explosion vent, the maximum temperature first increases and then decreases, and the maximum explosion pressure first decreases and then increases. In the case of single gas cloud, the flame suppression effect is the most obvious when the wire mesh is 0.2 m away from the explosion vent. In the case of double gas clouds, the flame suppression effect is the most significant when the distance between the wire mesh and the first gas cloud is 0.4 m.     

Effects of moisture and particle size distribution on flame propagation of L-lysine sulfate powder

Lysine is an essential amino acid for human body, and lysine sulfates are at risk of fire and explosion during the production and processing. However, there is no public report on the lysine sulfate powder explosion hazard research. In this paper, the effects of moisture, mass concentration and particle size on the flame propagation behaviors of L-lysine sulfate powder were studied in a vertical pipe. The results showed that the flame propagation could be divided into 3 stages: free propagation, acceleration and attenuation, in which the acceleration was owed to the positive feedback of combustion reaction, gas expansion and turbulence. Moisture content could promote the flame propagation of L-lysine sulfate powder to a certain extent, but it had a strong inhibitory effect on the explosion when the moisture content was too large. The flame propagation velocity increased with the decrease of the average particle size of powder,.With the increase of the particle concentration, the flame propagation velocity of powder explosion increased first and then decreased, that was, there was an optimal concentration of powder explosion, and the powder was more sensitive to the change of concentration in the range of low concentration.     

铝粉尘云燃烧火焰形态分析实验研究

为探索铝粉尘云燃烧火焰形态和灾变演化,基于改造的竖直开口实验管道,借助高速摄像仪和离子探针,研究火焰结构及变化,分析粒径因素对铝粉火焰前锋形态的影响。实验结果表明:铝粉燃烧能量的释放和空间束缚使燃烧转为爆燃,火焰前锋下方存在大片的燃烧反应区;铝粉粒径越小,颗粒氧化层破裂需要的热应力越小,越容易被点燃;随着铝粉粒径减小,热膨胀对火焰传播速度的影响明显增强。     

Production of fire extinguishing mixture by solid propellant propulsion

The behavior of fire suppression by water mist spray has been studied by using the experimental setup which employs the double-based solid propellant gas generator for water mist production. The burning products of solid fuel form a supersonic flow injected through the nozzle into the diffuser chamber having input for the water component ejected from the storage. High values of temperature and pressure at stagnation point impart the substantial kinetic energy to the flow, which provides the atomization of water droplets into mist spray. Since the water evaporation occurs already in the diffuser chamber due to the high temperature of input gas flow, the droplet size is gradually decreases to the lower limit value that could ever exist. The presence of vapor phase enlarges the volume of fire extinguishing jet allowing it to operate as a flooding agent (along with the effect of heat consumption due to water evaporation) at the very beginning of fire suppression process, much before the water droplets evaporation by the flame itself. Proposed technique of the water mist production has showed noticeable fire suppression capability through the series of testing application to the gasoline and wood model fire sources.     

Experimental investigation on explosion flame propagation of wood dust in a semi-closed tube

In order to explore flame propagation characteristics during wood dust explosions in a semi-closed tube, a high-speed camera, a thermal infrared imaging device and a pressure sensor were used in the study. Poplar dusts with different particle size distributions (0–50, 50–96 and 96–180 μm) were respectively placed in a Hartmann tube to mimic dust cloud explosions, and flame propagation behaviors such as flame propagation velocity, flame temperature and explosion pressure were detected and analyzed. According to the changes of flame shapes, flame propagations in wood dust explosions were divided into three stages including ignition, vertical propagation and free diffusion. Flame propagations for the two smaller particles were dominated by homogeneous combustion, while flame propagation for the largest particles was controlled by heterogeneous combustion, which had been confirmed by individual Damköhler number. All flame propagation velocities for different groups of wood particles in dust explosions were increased at first and then decreased with the augmentation of mass concentration. Flame temperatures and explosion pressures were almost similarly changed. Dust explosions in 50–96 μm wood particles were more intense than in the other two particles, of which the most severe explosion appeared at a mass concentration of 750 g/m³. Meanwhile, flame propagation velocity, flame propagation temperature and explosion pressure reached to the maximum values of 10.45 m/s, 1373 °C and 0.41 MPa. In addition, sensitive concentrations corresponding to the three groups of particles from small to large were 500, 750 and 1000 g/m³, separately, indicating that sensitive concentration in dust explosions of wood particles was elevated with the increase of particle size. Taken together, the finding demonstrated that particle size and mass concentration of wood dusts affected the occurrence and severity of dust explosions, which could provide guidance and reference for the identification, assessment and industrial safety management of wood dust explosions.     

Fe(OH)_2在湍流扩散火焰中抑制效果的CMC模拟研究

采用条件矩封闭模型(CMC)数值模拟了Fe(OH)2在湍流射流火焰中的灭火性能,计算结果表明该灭火添加剂在湍流燃烧中对H、OH和O的最大抑制效果要比层流下分别高出40%,10%,15%,其原因在于湍流扩散作用加强了某些不良输运特性组分的扩散,使得灭火添加剂的效果更强。不同Re数下的局部Damkholer数分布表明该灭火添加剂使得火焰变的不稳定,稳定燃烧位置沿轴向方向提高了3倍喷口直径的距离。     

湍流模型和壁面函数对有障碍半开口空间氢气燃烧模拟的影响

为了进一步验证有障碍半开口空间内氢气燃烧数值模拟的准确性,使用对比验证的方法对FLUENT软件湍流模型和壁面函数数值模拟结果的准确性进行了研究。研究结果表明:可实现k-ε湍流模型和非平衡壁面函数使燃烧压力和火焰形状与实验结果相比偏差较大,RNG k-ε湍流模型和可伸缩壁面函数可更准确地预测燃烧压力变化及火焰传播行为。     

铝粉爆炸无火焰泄压技术及装备研究

为有效防止粉尘爆炸泄爆引起的二次爆炸及火灾问题,基于泄压理论、消火机理,设计开发无火焰泄压装置,装置主要由消火结构、底座、爆破片及夹持机构组成,消火结构由不锈钢金属丝网组成。选择铝粉尘为测试粉尘,通过自建除尘系统试验平台进行试验研究。结果表明:无火焰泄压装置可成功阻止火焰传播,装置释放的冲击波在5 m外均小于5 kPa,除尘系统内部最大泄爆压力为0.1 MPa,装置前端火焰传播速度均大于100 m/s。     

乙炔-空气预混火焰在狭窄通道中的传播与熄灭

针对预混火焰在狭窄通道中传播过程的研究是进行阻隔防爆技术研发的基础。本文首先通过数值计算模拟了预混乙炔一空气爆燃火焰在狭窄通道中的传播与熄灭过程,然后采用高速数字摄像技术对火焰的传播过程进行捕捉,分析临界火焰传播速度、狭缝高度和熄灭长度之间的关系。研究结果均表明,当狭缝高度一定时,临界火焰传播速度越大,熄灭长度越大,熄灭长度与临界火焰传播速度近似呈正比例关系。在相同的临界火焰传播速度条件下,随着狭缝高度的增加,熄灭长度值迅速增大,说明狭缝高度对预混火焰的传播与熄灭有显著影响。本文研究成果将可为工业阻火防爆装置的设计和实际应用提供参考依据。     

横向风作用下喷口间距对射流扩散火焰特征的影响研究*

为研究横向风作用下喷口间距对射流扩散火焰特征的影响,以双喷口火焰为研究对象,利用CCD摄像机拍摄火焰几何形态,研究横向风条件下喷口间距对火焰形态演化、火焰长度和火焰吹熄极限的影响。研究结果表明:喷口间距较小时,2束火焰因空气夹带竞争和压差作用,彼此相互倾斜融合,火焰融合概率随喷口间距增加而逐渐降低,火焰临界融合间距随横向风的增加先增大后减小;由于火焰的空气夹带和热反馈处于较高水平,2束火焰被少量拉伸,火焰长度先增加后减小;喷口间距较小时,火焰吹熄极限显著增加。     

The effect of orifice plates with different shapes on explosion propagation of premixed methane–air in a semi-confined pipeline

The effect of internal shape of obstacles on the deflagration of premixed methane–air (concentration of 10%) was experimentally investigated in a semi-confined steel pipeline (with a square cross section size of 80 mm × 80 mm and 4 m long). The obstacles used in this study were circular, square, triangular and gear-shaped (4-teeth, 6-teeth and 8-teeth) orifice plates with a blockage ratio of 75%, and the perimeter of the orifice was regarded as a criterion for determining the sharpness of the orifice plate. The overpressure history, flame intensity histories, flame front propagation speed, maximum flame intensity and peak explosion overpressure were analyzed. The explosion in the pipeline can be divided into two stages: initial explosion and secondary explosion. The secondary explosion is caused by recoiled flame. The perimeter is positively related to the intensity of the recoiled flame and the ability of orifice plate to suppress the explosion propagation. In addition, the increase in the perimeter will cause the acceleration of the flame passing through the orifice plate, while after the perimeter of the orifice reaches a certain value, the effect of the increase in perimeter on explosion excitation becomes no obvious. The overpressure (static pressure) downstream of the orifice plate is the result of the combined effect of explosion intensity and turbulence. The increase in perimeter leads to the increase in turbulence downstream of the orifice plate which in turn causes more explosion pressure to be converted into dynamic pressure.