An investigation of flammability limits of gaseous mixtures at reduced pressures

An experimental investigation of flammability limits of hydrogen, methane and propane in air and oxygen at reduced pressures was carried out. A slow influence of sizes of an experimental vessel of a diameter higher than 125 mm on the flammability limits was revealed, but an influence of a type of an oxidizer (air or oxygen) and an ignition energy is significant. Critical values of an initial pressure for a possibility of a flame propagation were determined. The limiting values of the ignition energy were determined, for which an elevation of this parameter does not influence the critical pressure and the flammability region. A qualitative interpretation of obtained experimental results is given, which is based on a peculiarities of a flame initiation.     

导热性能对浸油沙层闪点、燃点的影响研究

研究了浸油沙层的导热性能对浸油沙层闪点和燃点的影响。选用柴油作为燃料液体,铜粉和沙子的混合物代表沙层,浸油沙层的导热系数由混合物中的沙子和铜粉比例控制。实验结果表明,浸油沙层的导热性能对其着火特性有重要影响。不加铜粉时,存在一个使混合物的闪点与燃点最小的沙油质量比。随着铜粉添加量的增加,闪点与燃点的最小值点逐渐消失。这可能是加入细铜粉使混合物的表面平整造成的。在最小点后,随铜粉添加量的增加,也就是随混合物的导热性能的改善,混合物的闪点与燃点增大。但当沙子与铜粉的质量比达到1：1时,闪点与燃点随沙油质量比的变化出现了一个最大值,之后闪点和燃点随沙油质量比的增加而降低。这些现象的出现可能是导热能力、毛细现象和混合物内部的空隙三者共同作用的结果。     

A numerical approach to investigate the maximum permissible nozzle diameter in explosion by hot turbulent jets

The ignition of a combustible environment by hot jets is a safety concern in many industries. In explosion protection concepts, for a protection of the type “flameproof enclosures” a maximum permissible gap is of major importance. In this work a numerical framework is described to investigate the ignition processes by a hot turbulent jet which flows out from such gaps. A Probability Density Function (PDF) method in conjunction with a reaction-diffusion manifold (REDIM) technique is used to model the turbulent reactive flow. In this paper the ignition of a stoichiometric mixture of hydrogen/air gas by a hot exhaust turbulent jet is examined. The impact of the nozzle diameter on the ignition delay time is investigated, too. The method is used to explore the maximum nozzle diameter for specific boundary conditions for which there is no ignition.     

Flow and flame visualization near the upper flammability limits of methane/air and propane/air mixtures at elevated pressures

In this study, direct visualization of flow and flame from the ignition of methane/air and propane/air mixtures near the UFL at elevated pressures of up to 2.0 MPa were obtained with a test cell comprised of double-sided plexiglass and a containment vessel with double-sided glass. These visualizations allowed direct observations of ignition and flame near UFL at elevated pressures. Two distinctive features were observed in ignition at elevated pressures that differ from those under ambient pressure: the hot igniter formed a convective plume, rather than a convection cell; and the flame initiated from the top of the test cell and propagated downwards, rather than directly from the igniter. Both these distinctive features are characteristics of convection at high Rayleigh number accompanied with increased gas density at elevated pressures. Our study also shows that visualization of the formation of planar flame provides the most objective criterion for defining flammability limits at elevated pressures.     

Validation of a new formula for predicting the lower flammability limit of hybrid mixtures

A correlation of the lower flammability limit for hybrid mixtures was recently proposed by us. The experimental conditions including ignition energy and turbulence which play a primary role in a gas or dust explosion were at fixed values. The sensitivity of such experimental conditions to the accuracy of the proposed formula was not thoroughly discussed in the previous work. Therefore, this work studied the effect of varying the ignition energy and turbulence intensity to the formula proposed in our previous paper. For ignition energy effect, results from methane/niacin mixture demonstrated that the MEC and LFL will not be affected by changing ignition energy. There is no distinguishable difference among gas explosion index (K_G) and dust explosion index (K_St) derived from tests with every ignition energy (2.5 kJ, 5 kJ and 10 kJ) in a 36 L vessel. The proposed formula is independent of ignition energy. For turbulence effect, the proposed formula can have a good prediction of the explosion and non-explosion zone if the ignition delay time is within a certain range. The formula prediction is good as the ignition delay time increases up to 100 ms in this work. Propane/niacin and propane/cornstarch mixtures are also tested to validate the proposed formula. It has been confirmed that the proposed formula predicts the explosion and non-explosion zone boundary of such mixtures.     

Explosion behaviour of metallic nano powders

This paper describes experiences and results of experiments with several metallic dusts within the nanometer range. The nano dusts (aluminium, iron, zinc, titanium and copper) were tested in a modified experimental setup for the test apparatus 20 L-sphere (also known as 20-L Siwek Chamber), that enables the test samples to be kept under inert atmospheric conditions nearly until ignition. This setup was already introduced in earlier papers by the authors. It was designed to allow the determination of safety characteristics of nano powders under most critical circumstances (e.g. minimisation of the influence of oxidation before the test itself). Furthermore the influence of passivation on explosion behaviour is investigated and additional tests with deposited dust were carried out to describe the burning behaviour of all dusts. For a better characterisation all samples were tested with a simultaneous thermal analysis (STA). To minimise the influence of oxidation all samples were handled at inert conditions until shortly before ignition or start of the test respectively.     

Development of algorithms for predicting ignition probabilities and explosion frequencies

A project was performed for the Explosion Research Cooperative to develop algorithms for predicting the frequencies of explosions based on a variety of design, operating and environmental conditions. Algorithms were developed for estimating unit-based explosion frequencies, such as those reported in API Recommended Practice 752, but in more detail and covering a much broader range of chemical process types. The project also developed methods for predicting scenario-based explosion frequencies, using frequencies of initiating events and conditional probabilities of immediate ignition and delayed ignition resulting in explosion. The algorithms were based on a combination of published data and expert opinion.     

常用聚氨酯硬泡外墙外保温系统的点燃特性研究

基于锥形量热仪实验,对常用的聚氨酯硬泡外墙外保温系统的点燃特性进行了实验研究。所研究的系统种类包括粘贴保温板薄抹灰外墙外保温系统,瓷砖饰面粘贴保温板外墙外保温系统,胶粉浆料复合保温板外墙外保温系统和保温装饰板外墙外保温系统。实验结果显示,聚氨酯硬泡保温板和聚氨酯硬泡外墙外保温系统都可由热厚型点燃描述。在防护层对点燃时间的抑制效果方面,胶粉聚苯颗粒复合保温板系统最好,瓷砖饰面系统稍差但明显好于5mm和3mm厚防护层的薄抹灰系统,铝板保温装饰板系统最差。     

辐射热流条件下多层电缆着火的数值模拟

通过CFD计算软件对锥形量热燃烧实验条件下的多层电缆着火性能进行数值模拟计算,对比相应CONE电缆燃烧实验结果,其计算结果表明所建立的电缆模型所得计算结果能够较好预测电缆着火时间。在此基础上,对护套层、绝缘层厚度、线芯层直径等参数对着火时间的影响进行了分析,发现护套层厚度对着火时间影响最大,线芯层对着火时间影响较小;当护套层及绝缘层厚度达到一定数值之后,电缆着火时间将不再发生变化。另外,因为电缆由多层热特性各异的材料组成,不能简单的划分为热薄材料或者热厚材料,但就所模拟电缆而言,其着火时间在不同的热辐射强度下分别表现出与热薄材料或者热厚材料相似的变化规律。     

Inhibiting effect of inhibitors on ignition sensitivity of wood dust

Wood products are easy to produce dust in the production and processing process, and have a serious explosion risk. In order to improve the safety of wood products production, the inhibiting effects of magnesium hydroxide (MTH), SiO₂, melamine polyphosphate (MPP) on the minimum ignition energy (MIE) and minimum ignition temperature (MIT) of wood dust were experimentally studied. The results showed that the inhibiting effects of inhibitors on the MIE of wood dust show the order of MPP > SiO₂>MTH. The order of the inhibiting effects on the MIT of wood dust was MPP > MTH > SiO_2. When 10% MPP was added to wood dust, the time when the flame appears (T_appear) and the time when the flame reaches the top of the glass tube (T_top) obviously rose to 80, 140 ms. Therefore, MPP had the best inhibiting effect on the ignition sensitivity of wood dust.According to thermogravimetry (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) tests, the introduction of MPP leaded to lower maximum mass loss rate (MMLR), higher temperature corresponding to mass loss of 90% (T_0.1), residual mass and heat absorption. In addition, thermogravimetric analysis/infrared spectrometry (TG-IR) results showed that MPP produced H₂O (g) and NH₃ (g) during the thermal decomposition process, which diluted the oxygen.