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.     

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。     

Evaluating the overall efficiency of a flameless venting device for dust explosions

Results from cornstarch explosion tests using a flameless venting device (mounted over a burst disc) on an 8 m³ vessel are presented and used to determine the overall efficiency of the device, which is defined as the ratio between its effective vent area and the nominal vent area. Because these devices are comprised of an arrestor element mounted over an impulsively-actuated venting device (such as a burst disc), the functional form of the overall efficiency is taken as the product of the area efficiency (i.e., the ratio between the effective vent area of the entire assembly to that of the venting device without the arrestor element) and the burst efficiency (i.e., the ratio of the effective vent area of the venting device without the arrestor element to the nominal vent area). The effective vent areas are calculated from measured overpressures using three different empirical correlations (FM Global 2001, NFPA 2007, and VDI 2002). Furthermore, due to significant variations in the effective reactivity from test to test, a correction factor proportional to the initial flame speed is applied when determining the area efficiency. In general, it was found that the FM Global and NFPA methodologies yield consistent results with less scatter than VDI 3673.     

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。     

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.     

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。     

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.     

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。     

Experimental study of the venting characteristics of dust explosion through a vent duct

To further understand the dynamic mechanism of dust explosion through a vent duct, we designed a small-scale cylindrical vessel connected with a vent duct and performed a dust explosion venting experiment under different opening pressures using corn starch as the explosive medium in this study. The results show that weakening effect of duct on venting is positively correlated with the opening pressure. The explosion pressure in the duct presents a three-peak-structure with time, successively caused by the membrane breaking shock wave, the secondary explosion in the tube, and the continuous combustion, and decreases gradually with the propagation distance. Meanwhile, the three pressure peaks are positively correlated with the opening pressure, while the time interval between them goes to contrary. The increase of opening pressure leads to the increase of secondary explosion intensity and reverse flow in the vessel, further accelerates the reaction rate in the vessel, and then shortens the duration of combustion in the vessel until the phenomenon of flame reignition in the vessel disappears.     

Application and effect of negative pressure chambers on pipeline explosion venting

Explosion venting is a frequently-used way to lower explosion pressure and accident loss. Recently, studies of vessel explosion venting have received much attention, while little attention has been paid to pipe explosion venting. This study researched the characteristics of explosion venting for Coal Bed Methane (CBM) transfer pipe, and proposed the way of explosion venting to chamber in order to avoid the influence of explosion venting on external environment, and investigated the effects of explosion venting to atmosphere and chamber. When explosion venting to atmosphere, the average explosion impulse 4.89 kPa s; when explosion venting to 0 MPa (atmospheric pressure) chamber, average explosion impulse is 7.52 kPa s; when explosion venting to −0.01 MPa chamber, explosion flame and pressure obviously drop, and average explosion impulse decreases to 4.08 kPa s; when explosion venting to −0.09 MPa chamber, explosion flame goes out and average explosion impulse is 1.45 kPa s. Thus, the effect of explosion venting to negative chamber is far better than that to atmospheric chamber. Negative chamber can absorb more explosion gas and energy, increase stretch of explosion flame, and eliminate free radical of gas explosion. All these can promote the effect of explosion venting to negative chamber.     

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.     

泄爆容器中粉尘爆炸的试验研究与数值模拟

为了解泄爆容器中粉尘爆炸的发展过程,采用试验和数值模拟相结合的方法对玉米淀粉在圆柱形容器内的泄爆过程进行研究。数值模型采用欧拉–拉格朗日方法模拟粉尘爆炸的两相流问题,通过求解非稳态的湍流两相反应流守恒方程对试验进行二维仿真。试验和模拟结果表明,点火位置对爆炸发展过程有明显影响,点火位置离泄爆口越远,容器中的最大泄爆压力Pred,max越高。在粉尘爆炸的安全防护设计中,应把点火位置作为重要影响因素之一加以考虑。     

管道中氢气-空气爆轰的多级泄爆数值模拟研究

为了研究管道内氢气的爆燃转爆轰及其抑制过程,对单个障碍物管道中氢气-空气混合物燃爆过程以及多级泄爆进行了二维数值模拟。基于氢气-空气19步详细化学反应动力学机理,以及k-ε湍流模型、概率密度函数输运方程和同位网格SIMPLE算法,采用计算流体软件Fluent进行模拟。结果表明:密闭管道无泄爆时,在距点火端1.5 m左右爆燃转为爆轰;泄爆口的位置对管道内氢气-空气预混气体的爆炸参数有重要影响,泄爆口位于管道中部时,能降低管道内爆轰超压,泄爆效果较好;位于管道中部单个泄爆口泄爆时,有效降低爆轰超压,管道中部设置2个泄爆口时,能通过压力和混合气体的泄放将管道中已经发生的爆轰衰减为爆燃;当有3个泄爆口泄爆时,管道中没有发生爆轰,达到良好的泄爆效果。     

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.     

Effects of vent layout and vent area on dynamic characteristics of premixed methane-air explosion in a tube with two side-vented ducts

To further elucidate the influence mechanism of side vents on the dynamic characteristics of gas explosions in tubes is helpful to design more reasonable vent layouts. In this paper, 9.5% methane-air explosion experiments were conducted in a tube with two side-vented ducts, and the effects of vent layouts and vent areas on the dynamic characteristics of explosion overpressure and flame propagation speed were investigated. The results demonstrate that under the same condition with a single vent area of 100 mm × 100 mm, when only the end vent is open, the maximum explosion overpressure and the maximum flame propagation speed are the highest among the five vent layouts. When the side vents 1 and 2 and the end vent are open, the maximum explosion overpressure is the lowest, and an unusual discovery is that the flame front changes into a hemispherical shape, finger shape, quasi-plane shape, tulip shape and wrinkled structure. When only side vent 1 is open, a unique Helmholtz oscillation occurs, and a new discovery is that there is a consistent oscillation relationship among the overpressure, flame propagation speed and flame structure. Helmholtz oscillation occurs only when a single vent area is 100 mm × 100 mm–60 mm × 60 mm, and the oscillation degree decreases with decreasing vent area. During the vent failure stage, the maximum explosion overpressure is generated, the flame front begins to appear irregular shape, and the flame propagation speed shows a prominent characteristic peak. After the vent failure stage, the driving effect of the end vent on the flame is higher than that of the side vent on the flame. Furthermore, the correlation equations of the mathematical relationships among the maximum explosion overpressure P_red, the static activation pressure P_stat and the vent coefficient K_v under four vent layouts are established, respectively.     

加气站压缩机间气体爆炸数值模拟研究

加气站压缩机间安全设计时,需要评估内部气体爆炸危害,确定爆炸能量和影响因素。采用CFD技术,建立加气站压缩机间三维模型,模拟不同点火源位置、泄压板不同泄压压力和重量下,压缩机间气体爆炸时的爆炸压力及火焰传播行为。结果表明点火源位置以及泄压参数是影响加气站压缩机间气体爆炸的重要因素;点火源位置距离压缩机间放空位置越近,爆炸压力越小;对于泄压参数,爆炸压力与泄压板开启压力和重量之间均为正比关系。为减缓压缩机间内的气体爆炸危害,需要合理布置点火源位置,选择容重轻、泄压压力小的泄压材料,并同时需要考虑爆炸导致的物体破碎危害以及火焰次生灾害。     

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.     

Vented gaseous deflagrations: modelling of translating inertial vent covers

A model of explosion pressure build up in enclosures with translating inertial vent covers is presented. The previous approach, valid for inertia-free vents, is advanced by appending to it a new model of translating inertial vent cover displacement. The model and CINDY code are validated against experiments by Höchst and Leuckel (J. Loss Prev. Process Ind. 11 (1998) 89) in a 50-m³ vessel with vertically translating covers with surface densities of 42 and 89 kg/m² at conditions of initially quiescent and turbulent mixtures. It is demonstrated for the first time that modelling of the vent cover jet effect is crucial for prediction of interdependent pressure-time and cover displacement-time transients, whereas air drag force and cushioning effects are negligible. The model was used further to investigate the influence of vent cover surface density on venting generated turbulence, via comparisons with experimental data of Cooper et al. (Combust. Flame 65 (1986) 1) in a 1-m³ enclosure with vertically translating covers of various surface densities up to 200 kg/m². The increase of the turbulence factor, i.e. total premixed flame front wrinkling factor, with cover inertia is obtained and explained.     

大尺度障碍物与泄爆面对天然气内爆炸的协同作用规律研究

为阐释民用建筑内部大尺度物品与门窗等泄爆面对天然气爆炸灾害的协同作用机制,基于典型厨房空间布局及内部物品特征,借助计算流体动力学技术研究了不同泄爆面开启压力和不同大尺度障碍物体积阻塞率条件下天然气内爆炸火焰速度、爆炸超压的分布规律。研究结果表明:大尺度障碍物与泄爆面对室内天然气爆炸过程具有显著的协同作用,共同促进火焰速度与爆炸超压的显著增长,并缩短峰值超压到达时间;大尺度障碍物的存在虽然显著降低了室内天然气的体积,但从增加房间内湍流源和相对长径比的角度进一步促进了泄爆效应;大尺度障碍物与泄爆面协同作用下,室内火焰速度呈现明显的阶段性特征,并在泄爆面附近发生波动。研究结论可为民用建筑物内气体爆炸事故调查分析和灾害评估提供科学依据。     

甲烷-空气预混气体泄爆过程的实验研究

对甲烷-空气预混气体在球形容器和球形管道连通容器内的泄爆过程进行实验研究,根据实验结果得出在较小的泄压面积时,与密闭容器爆炸实验比较,不能降低容器内的最大压力,反而会增大容器内的最大压力。通过实验结果分析,泄爆口安装在远离点火源的位置,当发生预混气体爆炸时能较好地降低容器内的最大压力,起到保护容器的作用。