An overpressure-time history model of methane-air explosion in tunnel-shape space

This study investigated methane-air explosion in tunnel-shape space and developed an overpressure-time history model based on numerical results. The findings revealed that for the progressively vented gas explosion with movable steel obstacles in a 20 m long tunnel, the inner peak overpressure increased as the activation pressure of the tunnel top cover got higher but remained below 6 bar. However, as the activation pressure increased to 8 bar or higher, the peak inner overpressure remained unchanged. As the segment cover panel became wider, the peak pressure was almost unchanged, but the pressure duration and impulse declined significantly. The peak pressure and impulse increased as the tunnel length vary from 10 to 30 m. With fixed tunnel length, higher blast pressure but lower impulse was observed as the inner obstacles were closer or the activation pressure of obstacles was higher. It is also found that a local enlarged space in the tunnel enhanced the peak pressure significantly. An overpressure time history model for the tunnel with fixed top cover and enlarged end zone was established. The model considered activation pressure of vent cover, area and length of vent opening, methane concentration, number and blockage ratio of fixed obstacles was developed to calculate the overpressure and corresponding time at characteristic points of the pressure-history curve. The cubic Hermite interpolation algorithm and a specially tuned formula consisting of the power and exponential function were used to interpolate pressure values between characteristic points. The proposed model can predict both the peak pressure and the overpressure time history with acceptable accuracy.