Development of a limit state approach for design against gas explosions

The design of topsides against explosions requires the definition of a design over-pressure, however, these values are often treated as deterministic and there is a wide variation within the industry in the treatment and interpretation of the loads.

This paper advocates the adoption of a number of limit state for explosion loading. Events of different magnitudes are differentiated on the basis of frequency and linked to appropriate degree of reliability thus avoiding disproportionate effects from minor events.

The two principal limit states considered are a limit state for all the safety critical systems for relatively high frequency events and a survival condition for low probability events. Parallels are drawn from other branches of engineering where extreme loads have to be designed for.     

Numerical simulation of gas explosions in linked vessels

The ability of the CFD code AutoReaGas to simulate a gas explosion in two linked vessels was investigated. These explosions present an anomalous destructive power because both peak pressures and rates of pressure rise are much higher than those generated in single vessel explosions. A fair agreement was observed between the computed results and experimental data taken from literature. Moreover, the computed values of the turbulence intensity at varying diameters of the connecting pipe demonstrate that turbulence induced in both vessels represent a major factor affecting the explosion violence.     

Methodology for case studies of accidental gas explosions

This paper discusses a procedure for case studies of accidental gas explosions. The procedure for each case study can be subdivided into four steps, i.e., collection of proofs, analyses, confirmation, and inference about the processes of the accident, and the issues in each step are pointed out. Making a guess on the sequence of the accident to be investigated should be avoided during collection of proofs. Misunderstanding of the phenomena in analyses and confirmation is likely caused by inappropriate knowledge on the phenomena and/or use of unsuitable models. The sequence of the accidental gas explosion should be inferred on the basis of confirmed processes. If there are other possibilities, those should be described in the report. The reasonableness of the results of a case study depends on the rationality of the procedure and the quality or plausibility of knowledge to infer the probable sequence.     

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。     

Scaling parameters for vented gas and dust explosions

Results of experiments or calculations for vented explosions are usually presented by expressing a term containing the peak (reduced) pressure as a function of a vent parameter. In gas explosions, the reactivity of the system has been typically characterized through an effective burning velocity, u_f. In the case of dust explosions, a normalized peak rate of pressure rise, K(=V^1/3(dp/dt)_max), has been used instead. Depending on the chosen approach, comparisons between systems with the same “reactivity” take different meanings. In fact, correlation formulas resulting from these two approaches imply different scaling between important system parameters. In the case of a constant-u_f system, and for sufficiently large vent areas, the reduced pressure, Δp_r, is approximately proportional to the square of the peak unvented pressure, Δp_m. On the other hand, correlations developed for constant-K systems imply proportionality of Δp_r with Δp_m raised to a power between −5/3 and −1, with the exact value depending on the assumptions made on the shape of the pressure profile. While the ultimate resolution of the details of the scaling may require recourse to experiments, this theoretical analysis offers a tool for the planning of such experiments and for the interpretation of their results. The paper provides a discussion of these scaling issues with the help of predictions from an isothermal model of vented explosions.     

Analysis of results from large scale hydrocarbon gas explosions

The recent set of large scale experiments at Spadeadam produced a considerable amount of data which consisted of sets of pressure–time histories recorded at very high sampling rates during the explosion events. In many experiments, very high over-pressures were measured, however, these high pressure peaks were of very short duration.In this paper, we examine characteristics of pressure–time data from large scale tests and present the results in three different forms, and show that the application of headline maximum over-pressure values to assess structural response is not applicable. The response characteristics of the target structure must be included in the definition of maximum over-pressure for structural assessment. While work is still ongoing at BP Amoco, preliminary results are presented in this paper. Our initial finding would indicate that (a) depending on the structure of interest, very different conclusions could be drawn concerning the relative severity of various explosion events and the benefits of mitigation measures, and (b) it is potentially dangerous to arbitrarily strengthen structures to withstand these high peak over-pressures.     

Modelling the response of masonry structures to gas explosions

In practice no system is infallible no matter how stringent the safety standards and procedures are concerning the release and use of gas in the process industries. Structural damage arising from an internal explosion often has serious repercussions. It is, therefore, imperative for engineers to be able to predict the extent of the damage that may occur, and to develop means to mitigate such effects.An accurate prediction of the structural behaviour requires an accurate formulation of the material's failure criteria. Experimental studies have shown that the response of masonry structures to gas explosions is non-linear. The cracking of masonry in tension and crushing of the material in compression are the major contributory sources of non-linearity.This paper presents a method of predicting the non-linear response based on the formulation of a numerical model to describe the material's failure criteria. The model has been validated using full-scale explosion test data provided by the Building Research Establishment in the UK. Although some minor discrepancies have been observed, overall the simulated values correlated very favourably with the actual test data. The probable causes of discrepancies are also discussed at the end of this paper.     

Modelling large-scale vented gas explosions in a twin-compartment enclosure

Natural gas and LPG are common fuels that have been used relatively safely in the home for many decades. However, when there is a release of gas within a dwelling, or gas from a leaking external pipeline migrates into a building, an explosion may occur. Most of the experimental research into vented gas explosions has been conducted in single enclosure, cuboid or spherical geometries which are not representative of accidental explosions in dwellings or process industries. This paper discusses the findings of a comprehensive large-scale experimental programme undertaken by British Gas Research and Development and also compares FLACS CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulations against a number of these experiments. The results suggest that the software is useful in gaining a greater understanding of the dynamics of explosion development in dwellings. The paper highlights areas of good performance of the software as well as areas of shortcomings where further understanding and modelling effort is needed.     

External pressures generated by vented gas and dust explosions

Several different data correlations have been developed for the external pressures associated with vented gas explosions and dust explosions. These correlations, which are applicable to external locations in the direct line-of-sight of the enclosure vent, are reviewed here. In addition, the application of spherically symmetric and of ellipsoidal blast wave models is explored as a possible means of calculating external pressures over a wider range of conditions than is possible with the existing data correlations. Results indicate that the spherically symmetric blast wave model can obtain a comparable accuracy (8–9 kPa standard deviation) for line-of-sight locations as the more recent data correlations. In the case of the lower blast pressures at locations perpendicular to the vent line-of-sight, the ellipsoidal blast wave provides significantly better agreement with data (to within 1 kPa standard deviation for the one set of available test data) than the spherically symmetric model.     

A study on the effect of trees on gas explosions

The downstream as well as the upstream oil and gas industry has for a number of years been aware of the potential for flame acceleration and overpressure generation due to obstacles in gas clouds caused by leaks of flammable substances. To a large extent the obstacles were mainly considered to be equipment, piping, structure etc. typically found in many installations. For landbased installations there may however also be a potential for flame acceleration in regions of vegetation, like trees and bushes. This is likely to have been the case for the Buncefield explosion that occurred in 2005 (Buncefield Major Incident Investigation Board, 2008), which led to the work described in the present paper. The study contains both a numerical and an experimental part and was performed in the period 2006–2008 (Bakke and Brewerton, 2008, Van Wingerden and Wilkins, 2008).The numerical analysis consisted of modelling the Buncefield tank farm and the surrounding area with FLACS. The site itself was not significantly congested and it was not expected to give rise to high overpressures in case of a hydrocarbon leak. However, alongside the roads surrounding the site (Buncefield Lane and Cherry Tree Lane), dense vegetation in the form of trees and bushes was included in the model. This was based on a site survey (which was documented by video) performed in the summer of 2006.A large, shallow, heavier-than-air gas cloud was defined to cover part of the site and surroundings. Upon ignition a flame was established in the gas cloud. This flame accelerated through the trees along the surrounding roads, and resulted in high overpressures of several barg being generated by FLACS. This is to the authors’ knowledge the first time a possible effect of vegetation on explosions has been demonstrated by 3D analyses.As a consequence of these results, and since the software had been validated against typical industrial congestion rather than dense vegetation, a set of experiments to try to demonstrate if these effects were physical was carried out as well. The test volume consisted of a plastic tunnel, 20 m long with a semi-circular cross-section 3.2 m in diameter allowing for representing lanes of vegetation. The total volume of the tent was approximately 80.4 m³. The experimental programme involved different degrees of vegetation size, vegetation density (blocking ratio) and number of vegetation lanes (over the full length of the tunnel). The experiments were performed with stoichiometric propane–air mixtures resulting in continuously accelerating flames over the full length of the tunnel for some of the scenarios investigated.The main conclusions of the study are that trees can have an influence on flame acceleration in gas–air clouds, and that advanced models such as FLACS can be used to study such influence. More research is needed, however, because even if FLACS predicts flame acceleration in dense vegetation, no evidence exists that applying the code to trees rather than rigid obstacles provides results of acceptable accuracy.     

Suppression effects of powder suppressants on the explosions of oxyhydrogen gas

Suppression tests of oxyhydrogen gas explosions were performed in an explosion tube with five types of dry powder used as the suppressants. The experimental results showed that the powder with large dust cloud density and small radius has better suppression effect, which agrees well with previous correlative results. Moreover, our results also showed that particles with chemical activity and light material density, their suppression effect are more prominent than that of the inert particles with heavy density. To discover the detailed suppression process of dust powder, governing equations were developed based on the homogeneous reactive two-phase flow. The TVD scheme and the Lax–Wendroff–Rubin scheme were adopted to solve the reactive gas phase and particle phase, respectively. The time splitting technique was employed to handle the stiffness of the coupled equations. Our calculated results showed that the dust cloud has the suppression effect on the explosion of oxyhydrogen gas, and with the increase of dust cloud density or the decrease of particle diameter, its suppression effect become more evident, which is in good agreement with our experimental results, in addition, the numerical results showed that with the same particle diameter, the suppression performance is enhanced with the reduction in particle material density.     

The effect of vent size and congestion in large-scale vented natural gas/air explosions

A typical building consists of a number of rooms; often with windows of different size and failure pressure and obstructions in the form of furniture and décor, separated by partition walls with interconnecting doorways. Consequently, the maximum pressure developed in a gas explosion would be dependent upon the individual characteristics of the building. In this research, a large-scale experimental programme has been undertaken at the DNV GL Spadeadam Test Site to determine the effects of vent size and congestion on vented gas explosions. Thirty-eight stoichiometric natural gas/air explosions were carried out in a 182 m³ explosion chamber of L/D = 2 and K_A = 1, 2, 4 and 9. Congestion was varied by placing a number of 180 mm diameter polyethylene pipes within the explosion chamber, providing a volume congestion between 0 and 5% and cross-sectional area blockages ranging between 0 and 40%. The series of tests produced peak explosion overpressures of between 70 mbar and 3.7 bar with corresponding maximum flame speeds in the range 35–395 m/s at a distance of 7 m from the ignition point. The experiments demonstrated that it is possible to generate overpressures greater than 200 mbar with volume blockages of as little as 0.57%, if there is not sufficient outflow through the inadvertent venting process. The size and failure pressure of potential vent openings, and the degree of congestion within a building, are key factors in whether or not a building will sustain structural damage following a gas explosion. Given that the average volume blockage in a room in a UK inhabited building is in the order of 17%, it is clear that without the use of large windows of low failure pressure, buildings will continue to be susceptible to significant structural damage during an accidental gas explosion.     

Experimental analysis of gas explosions at non-atmospheric initial conditions in cylindrical vessel

Accidental gas explosions in industrial equipment are seldom initiated at atmospheric conditions. Furthermore, fuel–air mixtures are generally turbulent due to rotating parts or flows. Despite these considerations, few studies have been devoted to the analysis of explosion properties at conditions of temperature and pressure different from ambient and in the presence of turbulence; therefore, experiments are still needed, even at lab-scale, e.g. for the design of mitigation system as venting devices.In this work, experimental explosion tests have been performed in 5 l, cylindrical tank reactor with stoichiometric methane–air mixtures at initial pressure and temperature up to 600 kPa and 400 K, centrally ignited or top ignited, and with the effect of initial turbulence level by varying the velocity of the mechanical stirrer.     

Simplified multiple equations' inverse problem of vented vessels subjected to internal gas explosions

This paper analyses the experimental data reported by Höchst and Leuckel (1998) for combustion in partially confined vessels and uses the data from these experiments to establish the burning rate based on a simplified model for the combustion process in such vessels. The model establishes three fundamental parameters which are necessary in characterizing the combustion process. These are: i) the burning rate, ii) the fraction of vent area occupied by burnt gas (or discharge sub-model), and iii) the vent area model (if cover mechanisms with variable vent areas are utilized). A set of independent equations is derived to determine the burning rate according to conservation of mass and volume for each gas fraction separately along with a general equation based on general volume conservation. Using this method we are able to describe the combustion process and examine the effect of various discharge models. The advantages of the model presented here include rapid applicability and a valuable analysis to derive mass burn rate and other useful parameters using experimental data from vented explosions with reasonable residual reactant values. Based on these results, the correct interpretation of the obtained burning rate can be used in order to explain the correct prediction of flame velocity and position according to a reasonable discharge model. The paper also evaluates the suitability of several discharge models for phenomenological models of vented explosions. The most appropriate is a Heaviside step function which considers that only unburnt gas is initially expelled, with that component decreasing and the burnt gas component increasing until finally only burnt gas is expelled. The obtained results in this study can be used to predict the burning rate behavior and the combustion process of similar problems.     

A method of analysis for gas explosions: H2Se case study

This paper presents a methodology for conducting a simplified gas-explosion analysis when there are uncertainties about the amount of fuel involved and the mode of combustion. The methodology is illustrated by a case study of an explosion of a cloud of hydrogen-selenide (H₂Se), nitrogen and air. Hydrogen-selenide (H₂Se) diluted with N₂ is used in a reactor vessel to produce solar cells. An explosive mixture could be created if the reactor vessel failed and its contents mix with ambient air. Mixtures of 20% or 6% H₂Se in N₂ were considered as feedstock into the reactor. It was determined theoretically that an explosion involving either mixture would challenge the reactor room's integrity. However, it is unlikely that a local ignition will propagate in the dilute 6% H₂Se mixture, because its adiabatic flame temperature is only 850 K; the 20% mixture is borderline flammable. Because of the proximity of personnel to the reactor room and the high toxicity of H₂Se, any damage to the room boundary is considered unacceptable. To prevent accidental mixing of H₂Se with air in the reactor, a nitrogen buffer was installed between the reactor vessel and the ambient air.     

Laminar burning velocities of hydrogen–air mixtures from closed vessel gas explosions

The laminar burning velocity of hydrogen–air mixtures was determined from pressure variations in a windowless explosion vessel. Initially, quiescent hydrogen–air mixtures of an equivalence ratio of 0.5–3.0 were ignited to deflagration in a 169 ml cylindrical vessel at initial conditions of 1 bar and 293 K. The behavior of the pressure was measured as a function of time and this information was subsequently exploited by fitting an integral balance model to it. The resulting laminar burning velocities are seen to fall within the band of experimental data reported by previous researchers and to be close to values computed with a detailed kinetics model. With mixtures of an equivalence ratio larger than 0.75, it was observed that more advanced methods that take flame stretch effects into account have no significant advantage over the methodology followed in the present work. At an equivalence ratio of less than 0.75, the laminar burning velocity obtained by the latter was found to be higher than that produced by the former, but at the same time close enough to the unstretched laminar burning velocity to be considered as an acceptable conservative estimate for purposes related to fire and explosion safety. It was furthermore observed that the experimental pressure–time curves of deflagrating hydrogen–air mixtures contained pressure oscillations of a magnitude in the order of 0.25 bar. This phenomenon is explained by considering the velocity of the burnt mixture induced by the expansion of combusting fluid layers adjacent to the wall.     

On the determination of the laminar burning velocity from closed vessel gas explosions

A methodology to determine the laminar burning velocity from closed vessel gas explosions is explored. Unlike other methods which have been used to measure burning velocities from closed vessel explosions, this approach belongs to the category which does not involve observation of a rapidly moving flame front. Only the pressure–time curve is required as experimental input. To verify the methodology, initially quiescent methane–air mixtures were ignited in a 20-l explosion sphere and the equivalence ratio was varied from 0.67 to 1.36. The behavior of the pressure in the vessel was measured as a function of time and two integral balance models, namely, the thin-flame and the three-zone model, were fitted to determine the laminar burning velocity. Data on the laminar burning velocity as a function of equivalence ratio, pressure and temperature, measured by a variety of other methods have been collected from the literature to enable a comparison. Empirical correlations for the effect of pressure and temperature on the laminar burning velocity have been reviewed and two were selected to be used in conjunction with the thin-flame model. For the three-zone model, a set of coupled correlations has been derived to describe the effect of pressure and temperature on the laminar burning velocity and the laminar flame thickness. Our laminar burning velocities are seen to fall within the band of data from the period 1953–2003. A comparison with recent data from the period 1994–2003 shows that our results are 5–10% higher than the laminar burning velocities which are currently believed to be the correct ones for methane–air mixtures. Based on this observation it is concluded that the methodology described in this work should only be used under circumstances where more accurate methods can not be applied.     

Experiments on the influence of pre-ignition turbulence on vented gas and dust explosions

Experiments were performed on the influence of pre-ignition turbulence on the course of vented gas and dust explosions. A vertical cylindrical explosion chamber of approximately 100 l volume and a length-to-diameter ratio (l/d) of 4.7 consisting of a steel bottom segment and three glass sections connected by steel flanges was used to perform the experiments. Sixteen small fans evenly distributed within the chamber produced turbulent fluctuations from 0 to 0.45 m/s. A Laser-Doppler-anemometer (LDA) was used to measure the flow and turbulence fields. During the experiments the pressure and in the case of dust explosions the dust concentration were measured. In addition, the flame propagation was observed by a high-speed video camera. A propane/nitrogen/oxygen mixture was used for the gas explosion experiments, while the dust explosions were produced by a cornstarch/air mixture.It turned out that the reduced explosion pressure increased with increasing turbulence intensity. This effect was most pronounced for small vents with low activation pressures, e.g. for bursting disks made from polyethylene foil. In this case, the overpressure at an initial turbulence of 0.45 m/s was twice that for zero initial turbulence.     

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.     

氢气爆炸特性研究

本文研究、总结了氢气与空气(氢气与氧气)的混合物的爆炸特性.即氢气在空气中,在比较低燃烧界限的情况下,只有向上的传播和非常少的超压可以观测得到.正因为氢气的这种特性,将氢应用于科技将极大地推进社会进步,氢燃料将成为一种主要的能源.然而,氢技术应用的成功与否主要取决于氢使用的安全性.所以,必须掌握实际使用时氢气燃烧的性能.本文在日本过去十年实验数据的基础上,通过实验研究了氢气与空气混合物的燃点.研究了氢气、氧气混合物经氮气稀释后,按化学当量比例将不同浓度的氢气与空气进行混合,并得出了低温下的爆炸压力特性.随后,分别讨论了在初始压力下一致的情况下,试管直径相同的状况下,氢气与空气混合浓度相同的情况下,这三种爆轰传播限制之间的关系.得出了在空气中直接点燃的发生爆轰的最小试管直径,最小的装药量之间的关系,进行了爆轰危险性分级.最后,文章概括比较了氢与其他燃料的燃烧特性,评估了氢气燃烧过程中的危险与安全因素.