On the thermal rupture of 1.9 m propane pressure vessels with defects in their thermal protection system

This paper describes the results from a series of fire tests that were carried out to measure the effect of defects in thermal protection systems on fire engulfed propane pressure vessels.

In North America thermal protection is used to protect dangerous goods rail tank-cars from accidental fire impingement. They are designed so that a tank-car will not rupture for 100 min in a defined engulfing fire, or 30 min in a defined torching fire. One common system includes a 13 mm blanket of high-temperature ceramic fibre thermal insulation covered with a 3 mm steel jacket. Recent inspections have shown that some tanks have significant defects in these thermal protection systems. This work was done to establish what levels of defect are acceptable from a safety standpoint.

The tests were conducted using 1890 l (500 US gallon) ASME code propane pressure vessels (commonly called tanks in the propane industry). The defects tested covered 8% and 15% of the tank surface. The tanks were 25% engulfed in a fire that simulated a hydrocarbon pool fire with an effective blackbody temperature of 870 °C.

The fire testing showed that even relatively small defects can result in tank rupture if the defect area is engulfed in a severe fire, and the defect area is not wetted by liquid from the inside. A wall failure prediction technique based on uniaxial high-temperature stress rupture test data has been developed and agrees well with the observed failure times.     

有毒有害蒸气云扩散的危害估算

因事故排放形成的有毒有害蒸气云,有可能造成爆炸、火灾、中毒等危害后果,但危害后果的大小(危害程度),则与事故造成危害的时刻(延迟时间)有关。笔者在以往研究成果基础上,考虑该因素,并通过引入正态分布假设,时、空变换及误差分析,给出了估算危害程度(特别是延迟爆炸危害)的有效而简便方法,补充了以往危害估算方法(不考虑延迟时间)的不足,提高了危害后果估算精度,可广泛应用于生产安全评价、环境风险评价、风险工程设计、事故应急预案、事故应急救援等工作领域,对于保障环境安全具有显著的科学价值与现实意义。     

液化石油气罐区火灾爆炸危险性评价

液化石油气罐区属于重大危险源,一旦发生火灾爆炸事故,后果非常严重.评价其安全性,控制其危险,是重大事故预防的思想,也是国家安全生产法律、法规的强制要求.笔者根据安全工程学的相关原理,综合运用重大危险源评价法和灰色聚类法分别对罐区的固有危险性和现实危险性进行了评价,克服了重大危险性评价法未考虑环境因素这一缺陷,最后得出了其火灾爆炸危险性等级,为政府监管和企业对危险源的监控管理提供了可行的科学依据.     

锂离子电池安全性特点及热模型研究

锂离子电池的安全问题越来越受到重视.本文从锂离子电池热安全性特点着手,分析了锂离子电池的着火、爆炸和电解液泄漏等安全事故特点.简单介绍了锂离子电池主要材料的产热特性、相互反应产热特性.讨论了锂离子电池热模型建立的两种途径,即量热仪途径和化学反应途径,通过这些热模型的建立,来指导锂离子电池的安全设计和管理.     

储煤筒仓系统爆炸危险因素分析

结合火力发电厂输煤系统运行状况，分析了储煤筒仓系统的爆炸危险因素，并作出了具体的预防及应对措施，对相关企业的安全工作有较好的参考价值。     

Systems thinking in a gas explosion accident – lessons learned from Taiwan

On July 31, 2014, at around 23:57, several huge explosions occurred that lasted for 2 h in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. As a result of a gas leak from a ruptured underground pipeline, the catastrophic incident destroyed more than 6 km of roads, killed 32 people, injured 321 people, and damaged 3259 buildings. Pipeline explosions have been reported as a repeatedly occurring problem, indicating that (1) complex systems are difficult to manage and control, and (2) humans are unable to effectively learn from experiences of accidents. Initial analyses results reveal that root causes of this incident were a combination of a series of complex chain reactions, which eventually led to propylene leakage and explosion. This is a systematic problem, which can hardly be investigated or analyzed by traditional research approaches. Based on the investigation reports and “systems thinking” method, this study develops causal loop diagrams for the Kaohsiung gas explosion to explore the root causes of the disaster. The research results indicate that (1) this pipeline explosion incident was the result of the chain reactions and was the output of a complex system; (2) the mental model of “production first” and “experience gap” were the root causes of the disaster; and (3) to achieve a higher safety standard, continuous education to improve the mental model of “safety first and safety over production” are essential. The findings of this study may contribute toward the improvement of the standard operating procedure for disaster management and preventing similar incidents in the future.     

Effects of particle thermal characteristics on flame microstructures during dust explosions of three long-chain monobasic alcohols in a half-closed chamber

To reveal clearly the effects of particle thermal characteristics on flame microstructures during organic dust explosions, three long-chain monobasic alcohols, solid at room temperature and similar in physical-chemical properties, were chosen to conduct experiments in a half-closed chamber. In the experiments, the dust materials were dispersed into the chamber by air to form dust clouds and the hybrids were ignited by an electrical spark. A high-speed optical schlieren system was used to record the flame propagation behaviors. A fine thermocouple and an ion current probe were respectively used to measure the flame temperature profile and the reaction behaviors of the combustion zone. Based on the experimental results, combustion behaviors and flame microstructures in dust clouds with different thermal characteristics were analyzed in detail. As a result, it was found that the dust flame surfaces were completely covered by cellular structures that significantly increased the flame frontal areas. Flame propagated more quickly and the number of the cellular cells increased as increasing the volatility of the particles. On the contrary, maximum temperature and the thickness of the preheated zone decreased as increasing the volatility of the particles. According to the ion current profile, the particles in the preheat zone were pyrolyzed to intermediate radicals and the radicals' fraction in the higher volatile dust flame was higher than that in the lower volatile dust flame.     

Study of lignocellulosic biomass ignition properties estimation from thermogravimetric analysis

In the last decade, the use of renewable resources has increased significantly in order to reduce the energetic dependence on fossil fuels, as they have an important contribution to the global warning and greenhouse gasses effect. Because of that, research on biofuels has been increased in the last years as its characteristics of use match those of the conventional fuel's: solid biomass can be used instead of coals, and biodiesel could replace diesel. Research on solid biomass ignition properties has been considerably developed because of the amount of industrial accidents related to the treatment and use of solid biomass (self-ignition, dust explosions, etc.). On the other hand, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is becoming and important characterization technique as it can be used to determine a wide spectrum of properties, such as kinetics, composition, proximate analysis, etc. This research aims to combine thermal analysis and ignition properties, by using the TGA to obtain the elemental composition of lignocellulosic biomass and compare those results to Minimum Ignition Energy (MIE) values test output, so a relation between composition and MIE can be found.To achieve this aim, biomass samples from different origins have been used: oil palm wastes (empty fruit bunches, mesocarp fiber and palm kernel shell), agricultural wastes (straw chops) and forestry wastes (wood chips and wood powder). Also, raw materials and torrefied biomass were compared. The hemicellulose/cellulose ratio was calculated and compared to different flammability properties, finding out that the greater the ratio and the lower the onset temperature (temperature at which the pyrolysis reaction accelerates), the lower was the minimum ignition energy. From this basis it was possible to define “tendency areas” that grouped the samples whose MIE values were similar. Three tendency areas were found: high minimum ignition energy, medium minimum ignition energy, and low ignition energy.     

A product analysis-based study on the mechanism of inflammable gas explosion suppression

To study the mechanism of the suppressing effect of Expanded Aluminium (EA) on the premixed gas explosion, premixed methane-air and propane-air gases were undergone explosion reaction in the presence of EA in a self-designed closed pipeline with the overpressures and the compositions, rates and sensitivities of products analyzed. The results showed that the 9.5% methane-air and 5% propane-air explosions produced peak pressures decreased by 79.3% and 65.6%, and residual methane and propane contents increased by 270% and 560% respectively than without EA. In addition, the results revealed that the explosions of propane in the presence of EA produced less methane and carbon oxides contents, but more ethylene and propylene contents. The simulation showed that H, O, and OH are the key factors affecting the rate of products. The product compositions, together with other parameters, suggested that EA decreased temperature, inhibited chain initiation and propagation reaction, but facilitated chain termination reaction by advancing and accelerating the gas phase and wall destruction reaction of radicals, especially collisions and concentration of key free radicals. This new research method based on the analysis of explosion products can be used for in-depth research into gas explosion features and shed light on the suppressing mechanism of EA in flammable gas explosion.     

基于人工神经网络的气体泄爆最大超压预测研究

为解决传统经验公式在预测气体泄爆中最大超压出现时的较大偏差或过于保守的问题，提出使用人工神经网络预测气体泄爆最大超压。基于124组实验数据，采用BP与RBF神经网络，通过优化算法计算与迭代循环对泄爆样本中的影响因素进行降维与选择，并确定2类神经网络本身在学习与计算气体泄爆样本时的相关参数。结果表明:PCA（主成分分析法）在当前样本条件下的降维效果较差，而通过迭代对比确认气体泄爆样本中的5类特征全部保留时神经网络的训练模拟效果最好；通过对124组实验数据进行随机挑选训练集与测试集的训练模拟结果发现，神经网络对气体泄爆中最大超压的预测效果较好；通过对比Molkov提出的和经Fakandu等改进的NFPA 68经验公式以及2类神经网络的预测结果表明，神经网络相比于传统气体泄爆经验公式具有明显优势。