Reliability and applicability of empirical equations in predicting the reduced explosion pressure of vented gas explosions

Explosions caused by the rapid release of energy from the expansion of burnt gases, along with an associated pressure rise, in an enclosure can be mitigated by venting. Many empirical equations have been derived based on vented gas deflagration phenomena. In the present paper, four empirical equations for gas venting were reviewed, i.e., NFPA 68, the European Standard (EN 14994), Molkov et al. and Bradley and Mitcheson in order to assess their reliability and applicability for predicting the reduced explosion pressure (P_red) of propane-air, methane-air and hydrogen-air mixtures at three different chamber-scale volumes. The results showed that the NFPA 68 correlation is the most appropriate method for predicting P_red, while Bradley and Mitcheson gave values closer to those of experimental data for propane-air mixtures in medium and larger chambers, respectively. However, none of the predicted correlations was able to provide a reasonable prediction of P_red in a hydrogen-air explosion. In addition, these predicted correlations showed greater discrepancies in P_red values in the presence of vent area, ignition position and obstacles.     

Experimental investigations on the external pressure during venting

Experiments of explosion venting in different conditions were performed in a cylindrical vessel with a vent duct; the pressure-time profiles from four transducers mounted in the line-of-sight centerline outside the vessel and the clear sequential shadowgraphs of external venting flow field taken by a high-speed shadowgraph imaging system were obtained. Based on these results, the characteristics of the external pressure field during venting were discussed systematically to explain the generation mechanism of the secondary explosion. In addition, the variations of the intensity of the secondary explosion in different venting conditions, namely the failure pressure, ignition location, area blockage ratio or equivalence ratio of the fuel, were also analyzed in detail.     

无火焰泄放装置性能检测技术研究*

为有效提高无火焰泄放装置产品质量特性和应用技术,避免或减轻爆炸事故发生造成的灾害程度,选择玉米淀粉粉尘为测试粉尘,采用1 m3爆炸罐进行扇形无火焰泄放装置爆炸泄放实验。结果表明:扇形无火焰泄放装置不适合重复使用。当扇形无火焰泄放装置重复进行爆炸泄放实验时,爆炸罐内压力会呈现升高趋势,而外场压力和温度呈现下降趋势,且阻火元件孔隙内残留大量玉米淀粉粉尘燃烧后生成的炭黑以及积聚部分高温燃烧的粉尘,致使阻火元件损坏失效。     

Dust explosion venting of small vessels and flameless venting

Dust explosion venting is an established method of protecting against damaging explosion over-pressures, and guidance is available for many industrial situations. However, there is a need to: (a) establish the venting requirements of small vessels and whether current guidance and predictions in BS EN 14491:2006 need revising, and (b) improve understanding of the potential and limitations of flameless venting. This paper describes initial results from an ongoing programme of research.Small vessel tests are carried out using cornflour and wood dust on: a commercial sieve unit, a commercial cyclone, and a 0.5 m³ test vessel with explosion-relief openings without vent covers. Initial 0.5 m³ vessel tests give reduced explosion pressures that are lower than those predicted. This is because the predicted pressures are based on openings with vent covers. The reduced explosion pressures measured in the sieve unit and the cyclone are also less than predicted: the reasons are discussed.Flameless vesting tests are carried out using cornflour and wheat flour on a commercial flame arrestor unit. Initial tests demonstrate benefits, particularly a high level of flame extinguishment, but a problem of reduced venting efficiency compared to conventional venting.These initial results indicate that further research is needed.     

A case study: An explosion in a milk spray dryer,CAPSA, NW Spain

European Standard EN 14491 (2006): “Dust explosion venting protective systems”, based on German Standard VDI 3673 (2002): “Pressure venting of dust explosions”, Verein Deustcher Ingenieure, specifies the basic design requirements for the selection of dust explosion venting protection systems.In this study an investigation into the efficiency of venting surfaces in accordance with Standard EN 14491 has been undertaken to check the validation of the same. Thus, the application of the standard to an actual case of an explosion in a milk spray dryer has been studied, taking into consideration the explosive characteristics of products treated in this type of installation and their venting requirements.The results obtained indicate that, in specific situations – such as the effects of turbulence, particularly in the cone, or dust layer self-ignition – the European Standard could underestimate the venting surface requirements needed to alleviate possible excess internal pressure in order to avoid injury or structural damage to spray dryers.     

Effect of the vent burst pressure on explosion venting of rich methane-air mixtures in a cylindrical vessel

The effect of the vent burst pressure on explosion venting of a rich methane-air mixture was experimentally investigated in a small cylindrical vessel. The experimental results show that Helmholtz oscillation of the internal flame bubble of the methane-air mixture can occur in a vessel with a vent area much smaller than that reported by previous researchers, and the period of Helmholtz oscillation decreases slightly when the vent burst pressure increases. The maximum overpressure in the vessel increases approximately linearly with the increase in the vent burst pressure; however, the pressure peaks induced by Helmholtz oscillation always remain approximately several kilopascals. The external flame reaches its maximum length in a few milliseconds after vent failure and then oscillates in accordance with the pressure oscillation in the vessel. The maximum length of the external flame increases, but its duration time decreases with the increase in the vent burst pressure.     

Flameless venting of dust explosion: Testing and modeling

Flameless venting is a sort of dual mitigation technique allowing, in principle, to vent a process vessel inside a building where people are working without transmitting a flame outside the protected vessel. Existing devices are an assembly of a vent panel and a metal filter so that the exploding cloud and the flame front is forced to go through the filter. Within the frame of ATEX Directive, those systems need to be certified. To do so a standard (NF EN 16009) has been issued describing which criteria need to be verified/measured. Among them, the “efficiency” factor as defined earlier for standard vents. This implies that flameless venting systems are basically considered as vents. But is it really so? This question is discussed on the basis of experimental results and some implications on the practical use and certification process are drawn. The practical experience of INERIS in testing such systems is presented in this paper. Schematically, with a flameless vent the pressure is discharged but not the flame so that combustion is proceeding to a much longer extent inside the vessel than with a classical vent so that the physics of the explosion is different. In particular it is shown that besides the problem of the unloading of the confined explosion, there is a highly complicated fluid mechanics problem of a fluid-particle flow passing through a porous media (the flameless device grids arrangement in the filter), which passing surface is progressively reduced. To characterize Flameless venting the problem can be addressed sequentially, considering separately the vent panel and the flameless mesh. A model is proposed to estimate the overall venting efficiency of the flameless vent. However, it does not address the flame quenching issue, which is a different problem of heat exchange between the devices and the evacuated burnt products.     

灭火泄爆门的研制（QVD）

研制了一种能够重复使用的泄爆装置──灭火泄爆门，在１５升改进型哈特曼装置中对玉米淀粉和硅钙粉作了粉尘爆炸泄爆实验。结果表明，泄爆过程中火焰完全被捕集住，泄爆门开启压力在０．００１～０．０５ＭＰａ间，可按用户的需要调节，虽然这种灭火泄爆门灭焰捕集部分体积较小，但其泄瀑效率可高达７％。     

Prediction of the relief of gas explosion in a tubular vessel by venting using a mathematical model

The relief of a gas explosion in a tubular vessel by venting can be predicted by using a mathematical model. In this model, the flame acceleration is represented by an increase in the burning velocity. The movement of a vent cover can be included. The model assumes that the vent is blocked by the vent cover prior to the explosion. the venting ratio was the most influential parameter in terms of relieving the pressure. In the case of a large venting ratio, the flame acceleration made a highly significant contribution, whereas for small venting ratios, the weight of the vent cover contributed to the relief more than the flame acceleration. When the pressure is required to be reduced significantly, the venting ratio, the vent open pressure and the weight of the vent cover must all be reduced.     

Effects of a Duct on the Venting of Explosions—Critical Review

The present paper deals with a study of the effect of ducting on explosions in vented enclosures. The presence of a duct was shown to increase the pressure reached in vented vessels. At the moment it is still not clear what are the main phenomena occurring in ducted-venting systems and no reliable correlations are available for the sizing of ducted vented systems. The only correlation available for gas explosions was developed by Bartknecht (1993) and assumed as a guideline in NFPA 68 (2002) while for dust explosions more correlations are available as reported in VDI 3673 (2002), in NFPA 68 (2002) and in Tamanini and Fisher (2003).This paper presents a critical review of available experimental and theoretical results on gas explosions in vessels vented through a duct that was carried out mainly to understand the role of the phenomena involved. Furthermore, the available correlations for ducted-venting of gaseous explosions of NFPA 68 (2002) and for dust explosions (Tamanini and Fisher, 2003; VDI 3673,2002; NFPA 68,2002) were applied to the experimental results available in the literature, to test their validity and applicability.     

Experimental study of flame acceleration and the deflagration-to-detonation transition under conditions of transverse venting

Results of experiments on critical conditions for flame acceleration and the deflagration-to-detonation transition in tubes with transverse venting are presented. Tests were made with hydrogen mixtures in two tubes (inner diameter of 46 and 92 mm) with obstacles. Ratios of vent area to total tube area were 0.2 and 0.4. Venting was shown to influence flame acceleration significantly. The greater the vent ratio, the more reactive the mixture necessary for development of fast flames. Critical conditions for flame acceleration in tubes with venting, expressed through a critical mixture expansion ratio σ_cr, were found to be σ_cr/σ₀1+2, where σ₀ is the critical value for a closed tube. Critical conditions for detonation onset in a vented tube were found to be very close to those in a closed tube with similar configuration of obstacles.     

Experimental study on vented gas explosion in a cylindrical vessel with a vent duct

A study of vented explosions in a length over diameter (L/D) of 2 in cylindrical vessel connecting with a vent duct (L/D = 7) is reported. The influence of vent burst pressure and ignition locations on the maximum overpressure and flame speeds at constant vent coefficient, K of 16.4 were investigated to elucidate how these parameters affect the severity of a vented explosion. Propane and methane/air mixtures were studied with equivalence ratio, Φ ranges from 0.8 to 1.6. It is demonstrated that end ignition exhibited higher maximum overpressures and flame speeds in comparison to central ignition, contrary to what is reported in literature. There was a large acceleration of the flame toward the duct due to the development of cellular flames and end ignition demonstrated to have higher flame speeds prior to entry into the vent due to the larger flame distance. The higher vent flow velocities and subsequent flame speeds were responsible for the higher overpressures obtained. Rich mixtures for propane/air mixtures at Φ = 1.35 had the greatest flame acceleration and the highest overpressures. In addition, the results showed that Bartknecht's gas explosion venting correlation is grossly overestimated the overpressure for K = 16.4 and thus, misleading the impact of the vent burst pressure.     

Dynamics of explosion venting in a compartment with methane-air mixtures

A series of experiments on explosion venting of methane-air mixtures are performed to scrutinize the pressure evolution as well as the flame dynamics and morphology at various vent conditions. Specifically, a premixed flame is ignited at the center of a polycarbonate cylindrical compartment, with three various vent areas considered (with negligible vent relief pressure). As expected, the highest maximum pressure is observed in the case of the smallest vent area. For all three cases, the pressure evolution experiences two major peaks, associated with the instants (i) when the maximum flame front surface area in the chamber is reached and (ii) when an external explosion occurs due to venting of unburned gases, respectively. For the fuel-rich mixtures, a flashback is observed subsequent to the external explosion, constituting the key outcome of the present work. The flame tip velocities show two general trends, namely, exponential acceleration towards the vent, while a flame propagates towards the blocked side of the compartment with no acceleration, which is important to know in the fire/explosion safety applications.     

某机场航站楼自然排烟系统有效性的热烟试验研究

在许多高大空间建筑中安装有自然排烟系统,而随着空间高度增加,火灾烟气温度降低,浮力减小。在某机场航站楼二楼办票大厅进行了全尺寸火灾试验,对大厅顶部的电动自然排烟窗的排烟有效性进行检验。试验中火源为甲醇池火,添加发烟剂作为示踪粒子。共进行了6组不同排烟口面积和火源功率的试验,通过测量火源附近大厅上部烟气温度分布和排烟口速度验证自然排烟的有效性。结果表明,自然排烟窗能有效排出烟气,控制烟气沉降,降低火灾危险性。     

泄爆口参数对氢气火焰传播过程影响的数值模拟*

为了减少管内气体爆炸造成的损失与破坏,基于大涡模拟LES模型和Zimont燃烧模型,研究泄爆尺寸(直径为40,60,80 mm)和泄爆位置(侧方距点火端1,3,5 m)等泄爆条件对受限空间中氢气燃爆特性的影响。研究结果表明:大孔径泄爆口更好的排放效果造成火焰锋面在通过泄爆口时发生严重畸变,而泄爆口与点火端距离的增加则会削弱火焰锋面畸变的程度,且不同尺寸泄爆口产生的泄压效果差异较大。因此,应考虑将合适尺寸的泄爆口设置于靠近易燃点处。通过探索不同泄爆孔径与泄爆口位置对氢气火焰传播的影响规律,可为实际应用中的安全泄爆起到指导性作用。     

Experimental study on vented deflagration of hydrocarbon fuel-air mixtures in a 20-L semi-confined cylindrical vessel with a slight static activation pressure

The overpressure peaks and flame propagation characteristics of hydrocarbon fuel-air mixtures vented deflagration in a 20-L cylindrical vessel with a slight static activation overpressure (P_ST = 2.5 kPa) and five vent opening ratio were studied by a series of experiments. The experiments focused on the effect of vent opening ratio on the overpressure peaks and flame propagation characteristics of hydrocarbon fuel-air mixture vented deflagration. The internal overpressure-time profiles and high-speed photographs of flame propagation processes were obtained. The results showed that three overpressure peaks were distinguished in the internal overpressure-time profiles, caused by the burst vent cover (p_burst), the acceleration of burnt gas (p_fv), and the fierce external deflagration of vented unburned fuel (p_ext), respectively. The changing of the vent opening ratio had almost no effect on the value of p_burst and (dp_burst/dt). With increasing vent opening ratio, the values of p_fv, p_ext, (dp_fv/dt) and (dp_ext/dt) showed a decreasing trend while the values of p_burst and (dp_burst/dt) were nearly constant. The flame presented a hemispherical shape before the vent cover ruptured then developed as a mushroom shape after accelerated to external field. There were three flame speed peaks during flame propagation process, resulted from venting flow acceleration, external deflagration, and axial heat flux formed by internal combustion. With the increase of vent opening ratio, all of the maximum flame speed, external average flame speed, maximum flame distance and external flame duration showed a downward trend, excepting for the internal average flame speed almost remained constant.     

连通容器气体密闭爆炸与泄爆过程的实验研究

利用球型容器与管道组合,开展连通容器气体爆炸与泄爆实验,分析连通条件下,火焰在管道中的传播过程及其对起爆容器和传爆容器的压力影响。实验结果表明:连通容器气体爆炸中,火焰从起爆容器到传爆容器传播经历了一段不断加速,但加速度不断减小的过程;泄爆过程中,火焰传播过程与密闭爆炸时基本一致。管道中火焰加速传播,使得传爆容器的爆炸压力和强度相较于作为起爆容器时均明显增加,危险更大,采用与起爆容器相同的泄爆面积,无法满足对连通容器中传爆容器的泄爆。同时,泄爆是一个快速的能量泄放过程应选择合理的泄爆方式,防止二次危害。     

Vent burst pressure effects on vented gas explosion reduced pressure

The overpressure generated in a 10 L cylindrical vented vessel with an L/D of 2.8 was investigated, with end ignition opposite the vent, as a function of the vent static burst pressure, P_stat, from 35 to 450 mb. Three different K_v (V^2/3/A_v) of 3.6, 7.2 and 21.7 were investigated for 10% methane–air and 7.5% ethylene–air. It was shown that the dynamic burst pressure, P_burst, was higher than P_stat with a proportionality constant of 1.37. For 10% methane–air P_burst was the controlling peak pressure for K <∼8. This was contrary to the assumption that P_red > P_burst in the literature and in EU and US standards. For higher K_v the overpressure due to flow through the vent, P_fv, was the dominant overpressure and the static burst pressure was not additive to the external overpressure. Literature on the influence of P_stat at low K_v was shown to support the present finding and it is recommended that the influence of P_stat in gas venting standards is revised.     

Flame behaviors and pressure characteristics of vented dust explosions at elevated static activation overpressures

Dust explosion venting experiments were performed using a 20-L spherical chamber at elevated static activation overpressures larger than 1 bar. Lycopodium dust samples with mean diameter of 70 μm and electric igniters with 0.5 KJ ignition energy were used in the experiments. Explosion overpressures in the chamber and flame appearances near the vent were recorded simultaneously. The results indicated that the flame appeared as the under-expanded free jet with shock diamonds, when the overpressure in the chamber was larger than the critical pressure during the venting process. The flame appeared as the normal constant-pressure combustion when the pressure venting process finished. Three types of venting processes were concluded in the experiments: no secondary flame and no secondary explosion, secondary flame, secondary explosion. The occurrence of the secondary explosions near the vent was related to the vent diameter and the static activation overpressure. Larger diameters and lower static activation overpressures were beneficial to the occurrence of the secondary explosions. In current experiments, the secondary explosions only occurred at the following combinations of the vent diameter and the static activation overpressure: 40 mm and 1.2 bar, 60 mm and 1.2 bar, 60 mm and 1.8 bar.     

A new prediction method for dust explosion venting at high static activation pressures

Venting is an effective way to prevent harmful dust explosions, but the existing prediction methods are imprecise and are suitable only for applications with low activation pressures. A new method is proposed for predicting pressures based on an analysis of energy losses at high activation pressures and verified by aluminum dust explosion experiments. Compared with the experimental results, the results of the new model are relatively stable under working conditions with different activation pressures and venting areas. Based on the analysis of energy losses, the changes in the energy loss rate, temperature, and venting velocity during venting are found to be asynchronous. The thermal energy loss, which accounts for over 80 percent of the total, is expected to be larger than the kinetic energy loss. The thermal energy loss rate changes rapidly during venting, while the kinetic energy loss rate remains relatively stable. The new model is more accurate than the NFPA68 standard, which fails to consider the thermal energy loss. Neglecting the thermal energy loss may result in an underestimation of the pressure reduction; this error increases with decreasing activation pressure.