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.     

Duct-venting of dust explosions in a 20 L sphere at elevated static activation overpressures

Ducts are often recommended in the design of dust explosion venting in order to discharge materials to safe locations. However, the maximum reduced overpressure increases in a duct-vented vessel rather than in a simply vented vessel. This needs to be studied further for understanding the duct-venting mechanism. Numerous duct-vented dust explosion experiments were conducted, using a 20 L spherical chamber at elevated static activation overpressures, ranging from 1.8 bar to 6 bar. Duct diameters of 15 mm and 28 mm, and duct lengths of 0 m (simply venting), 1 m and 2 m, were selected. Explosion pressures both in the vessel and in the duct were recorded by pressure sensors, with a frequency of 5 kHz. Flame signals in the duct were also obtained by phototransistors. Results indicate that the secondary explosion occurring in the duct increases the maximum reduced overpressure in the vessel. The secondary explosion is greatly affected by the duct diameter and static activation overpressure, and hence influences the amplification of the maximum reduced overpressure. Larger static activation overpressure decreases the severity of the secondary explosion, and hence decreases the increment in the maximum reduced overpressure. The secondary pressure peak is more obvious as the pressure accumulation is easier in a duct with a smaller diameter. However, the increment of the maximum reduced overpressure is smaller because blockage effect, flame front distortion, and turbulent mixing due to secondary explosion are weaker in a narrow duct. The influence of duct length on the maximum reduced overpressure is small at elevated static activation overpressures, ranging from 1.8 bar to 6 bar at 15 mm and 28 mm duct diameters.     

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.     

Experimental study on the feasibility of explosion suppression by vacuum chambers

In view of the invalidity of suppression and isolation apparatus for gas explosion, a closed vacuum chamber structure for explosion suppression with a fragile plane was designed on the base of the suction of vacuum. Using methane as combustible gas, a series of experiments on gas explosion were carried out to check the feasibility of the vacuum chamber suppressing explosion by changing methane concentration and geometric structure of the vacuum chamber. When the vacuum chamber was not connected to the tunnel, detonation would happen in the tunnel at methane volume fraction from 9.3% to 11.5%, with flame propagation velocity exceeding 2000 m/s, maximum peak value overpressure reaching 0.7 MPa, and specific impulse of shock wave running up to 20 kPa s. When the vacuum chamber with 5/34 of the tunnel volume was connected to the flank of the tunnel, gas explosion of the same concentration would greatly weaken with flame propagation velocity declining to about 200 m/s, the quenching distance decreasing to 3/4 of the tunnel length, maximum peak value overpressure running down to 0.1-0.15 MPa and specific impulse of shock wave below 0.9 kPa s. The closer the position accessed to the ignition end, the greater explosion intensity weakened. There was no significant difference between larger section and smaller vacuum chambers in degree of maximum peak value overpressure and specific impulse declining, except that quenching fire effect of the former was superior to the latter. The distance of fire quenching could be improved by increasing the number of the vacuum chambers.     

Experimental study on unconfined methane explosion: Explosion characteristics and overpressure prediction method

Explosion accidents have become the main threat for the high-efficiency use of cleaner gas energy sources, such as natural gas. During an explosion, obstacle causing flame acceleration is the main reason for the increase of the explosion overpressure, which still remains to be fully understood. In this research, field experiments were conducted in a 1 m³ cubic frame apparatus to investigate the effect of built-in obstacles on unconfined methane explosion. Cage-like obstacles were constructed using square steel rods with different cross section size. The results demonstrated that the flame could get accelerated due to the hydrodynamic instability and obstacle-induced turbulence, which enhanced the explosion overpressure. In the near field, the overpressure wave travelled slower and the maximum overpressure could almost keep constant. Reducing the cross section size, or increasing the obstacle height or the obstacle number per layer could determine the rise of the maximum overpressure, the maximum pressure rising rate and the overpressure impulse. For uniformly constructed obstacles, self-similar theory was chosen to measure the influence of the hydrodynamic instability, and a parameter β was adopted to measure the flame acceleration caused by obstacle-induced turbulence, the value of which was 2 in this research. Based on the acoustic theory, an overpressure prediction model was proposed and the predicted results agreed with the measured values better than previous models, such as TNT equivalency model and TNO multi-energy model.     

Experimental study on explosion characteristics of ethanol-gasoline blended fuels

In the present work, a series of experiments have been performed to analyze the explosion characteristics of ethanol-gasoline with various blended ratios (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 80%, and 100%). A vented rectangular vessel with a cross-section of 100 mm × 100 mm, 600 mm long and a 40 mm diameter vent on the top is used to carry out the experiments. The flame propagation is recorded by a phantom high-speed camera with 5000 fps, while the histories of the explosion overpressure are measured by two PCB pressure sensors and the explosion sound pressure level is obtained by a CRY sound sensor. The results indicate that the maximum overpressure and flame propagation speed increases linearly as the blended ratio increases when the initial volume of blended fuel is 1.0 mL; While the change of explosion overpressure and flame propagation speed shows a trend of decreasing at first and then increasing as the concentration increases to 1.8 mL. It is also found that the peak of the sound pressure level exceeds 100 dB under all tests, which would damage the human's hearing. What's more, relationships between explosion overpressure and sound pressure level are examined, and the change of the maximum overpressure can be reflected to some extent by the measurement of the maximum sound pressure level. The study is significant to reveal the essential characteristic of the explosion venting process of ethanol-gasoline under different initial blended ratios, and the results would help deepen the understanding of ethanol-gasoline blended fuels explosion and the assessment of the explosion hazardous.     

Characteristics of dust explosion venting pressure and flame under high activation pressure

A 20 L spherical explosive device with a venting diameter of 110 mm was used to study the vented pressure and flame propagation characteristics of corn dust explosion with an activation pressure of 0.78–2.1 bar and a dust concentration of 400∼900 g/m³. And the formation and prevention of secondary vented flame are analyzed and discussed. The results show that the maximum reduced explosion overpressure increases with the activation pressure, and the vented flame length and propagation speed increase first and then decrease with time. The pressure and flame venting process models are established, and the region where the secondary flame occurs is predicted. Whether there is pressure accompanying or not in the venting process, the flame venting process is divided into two stages: overpressure venting and normal pressure venting. In the overpressure venting stage, the flame shape gradually changes from under-expanded jet flame to turbulent jet flame. In the normal pressure venting stage, the flame form is a turbulent combustion flame, and a secondary flame occurs under certain conditions. The bleed flames within the test range are divided into three regions and four types according to the shape of the flame and whether there is a secondary flame. The analysis found that when the activation pressure is 0.78 bar and the dust concentration is less than 500 g/m³, there will be no secondary flame. Therefore, to prevent secondary flames, it is necessary to reduce the activation pressure and dust concentration. When the dust concentration is greater than 600 g/m³, the critical dust concentration of the secondary flame gradually increases with the increase of the activation pressure. Therefore, when the dust concentration is not controllable, a higher activation pressure can be selected based on comprehensive consideration of the activation pressure and destruction pressure of the device to prevent the occurrence of the secondary flame.     

The effect of orifice plates with different shapes on explosion propagation of premixed methane–air in a semi-confined pipeline

The effect of internal shape of obstacles on the deflagration of premixed methane–air (concentration of 10%) was experimentally investigated in a semi-confined steel pipeline (with a square cross section size of 80 mm × 80 mm and 4 m long). The obstacles used in this study were circular, square, triangular and gear-shaped (4-teeth, 6-teeth and 8-teeth) orifice plates with a blockage ratio of 75%, and the perimeter of the orifice was regarded as a criterion for determining the sharpness of the orifice plate. The overpressure history, flame intensity histories, flame front propagation speed, maximum flame intensity and peak explosion overpressure were analyzed. The explosion in the pipeline can be divided into two stages: initial explosion and secondary explosion. The secondary explosion is caused by recoiled flame. The perimeter is positively related to the intensity of the recoiled flame and the ability of orifice plate to suppress the explosion propagation. In addition, the increase in the perimeter will cause the acceleration of the flame passing through the orifice plate, while after the perimeter of the orifice reaches a certain value, the effect of the increase in perimeter on explosion excitation becomes no obvious. The overpressure (static pressure) downstream of the orifice plate is the result of the combined effect of explosion intensity and turbulence. The increase in perimeter leads to the increase in turbulence downstream of the orifice plate which in turn causes more explosion pressure to be converted into dynamic pressure.     

The effect of vent ducts on the reduced explosion pressures of vented dust explosions

An investigation into the effects of vent ducts on reduced explosion pressures is described. Experiments were made using an 18.5m³ explosion vessel and a modified 20 1 sphere, with dusts having K_st values ranging from 144 bar ms⁻¹ to 630 bar ms⁻¹. The vent area/vessel volume ratio bursting pressure of the vent cover, and the length to diameter ratio of the vent duct have been varied. Straight vent ducts, and ducts containing sharp 45° and 90° bends have been used.A simple model to describe the effect of vent ducts on the reduced explosion pressure has been derived and compared with the experimental results. Agreement is shown to be satisfactory in nearly all cases. A comparison between the experimental results and guidance on the effect of vent ducts already available in the literature is discussed.     

Experimental study on vented gas explosion in a cylindrical vessel with a vent duct

A study of vented explosions in a length over diameter (L/D) of 2 in cylindrical vessel connecting with a vent duct (L/D = 7) is reported. The influence of vent burst pressure and ignition locations on the maximum overpressure and flame speeds at constant vent coefficient, K of 16.4 were investigated to elucidate how these parameters affect the severity of a vented explosion. Propane and methane/air mixtures were studied with equivalence ratio, Φ ranges from 0.8 to 1.6. It is demonstrated that end ignition exhibited higher maximum overpressures and flame speeds in comparison to central ignition, contrary to what is reported in literature. There was a large acceleration of the flame toward the duct due to the development of cellular flames and end ignition demonstrated to have higher flame speeds prior to entry into the vent due to the larger flame distance. The higher vent flow velocities and subsequent flame speeds were responsible for the higher overpressures obtained. Rich mixtures for propane/air mixtures at Φ = 1.35 had the greatest flame acceleration and the highest overpressures. In addition, the results showed that Bartknecht's gas explosion venting correlation is grossly overestimated the overpressure for K = 16.4 and thus, misleading the impact of the vent burst pressure.     

Measurement of gas detonation blast loads in semiconfined geometry

The ignition and explosion of combustible vapor clouds represents a significant hazard across a range of industries. In this work, a new set of gas detonations experiments were performed to provide benchmark blast loading data for non-trivial geometry and explosion cases. The experiments were designed to represent two different accident scenarios: one where ignition of the vapor cloud occurs shortly after release and another where ignition is delayed and a fuel concentration gradient is allowed to develop. The experiments focused on hydrogen-air and methane-oxygen detonations in a semiconfined enclosure with TNT equivalencies ranging from 9 g to 1.81 kg. High-rate pressure transducers were used to record the blast loads imparted on the interior walls of a 1.8 m × 1.8 m × 1.8 m test fixture. Measurements included detonation wave velocity, peak overpressure, impulse, and positive phase duration. A comparison of the pressure and impulse measurements with several VCE models is provided. Results show that even for the most simplified experimental configuration, the simplified VCE models fail to provide predictions of the blast loading on the internal walls of the test fixture. It is shown that the confinement geometry of the experiment resulted in multiple blast wave reflections during the initial positive phase duration portion of the blast loading, and thus, significantly larger blast impulse values were measured than those predicted by analytical models. For the pressure sensors that experienced normally-reflect blast waves for the initial blast impulse, the Baker-Strehlow and TNT equivalency models still struggled to accurately capture the peak overpressure and reflected impulse. The TNO multi-energy model, however, performed better for the case of simple normally-reflected blast waves. The results presented here may be used as validation data for future model or simulation development.     

Effects of premixed methane concentration on distribution of flame region and hazard effects in a tube and a tunnel gas explosion

Study of flame distribution laws and the hazard effects in a tunnel gas explosion accident is of great importance for safety issue. However, it has not yet been fully explored. The object of present work is mainly to study the effects of premixed gas concentration on the distribution law of the flame region and the hazard effects involving methane-air explosion in a tube and a tunnel based on experimental and numerical results. The experiments were conducted in a tube with one end closed and the other open. The tube was partially filled with premixed methane-air mixture with six different premixed methane concentrations. Major simulation works were performed in a full-scale tunnel with a length of 1000 m. The first 56 m of the tunnel were occupied by methane–air mixture. Results show that the flame region is always longer than the original gas region in any case. Concentration has significant effects on the flame region distribution and the explosion behaviors. In the tube, peak overpressures and maximum rates of overpressure rise (dp/dt)_max for mixtures with lower and higher concentrations are great lower than that for mixtures close to stoichiometric concentration. Due to the gas diffusion effect, not the stoichiometric mixture but the mixture with a slightly higher concentration of 11% gets the highest peak overpressure and the shock wave speed along the tube. In the full-scale tunnel, for fuel lean and stoichiometric mixture, the maximum peak combustion rates is achieved before arriving at the boundary of the original methane accumulation region, while for fuel rich mixture, the maximum value appears beyond the region. It is also found that the flame region for the case of stoichiometric mixture is the shortest as 72 m since the higher explosion intensity shortens the gas diffusion time. The case for concentration of 13% can reach up to a longest value of 128 m for longer diffusion time and the abundant fuel. The “serious injury and death” zone caused by shock wave may reach up to 3–8 times of the length of the original methane occupied region, which is the widest damage region.     

The acceleration of flames in tube explosions with two obstacles as a function of the obstacle separation distance

The separation distance (or pitch) between two successive obstacles or rows of obstacles is an important parameter in the acceleration of flame propagation and increase in explosion severity. Whilst this is generally recognised, it has received little specific attention by investigators. In this work a vented cylindrical vessel 162 mm in diameter 4.5 m long was used to study the effect of separation distance of two low blockage (30%) obstacles. The set up was demonstrated to produce overpressure through the fast flame speeds generated (i.e. in a similar mechanism to vapour cloud explosions). A worst case separation distance was found to be 1.75 m which produced close to 3 bar overpressure and a flame speed of about 500 m/s. These values were of the order of twice the overpressure and flame speed with a double obstacle separated 2.75 m (83 characteristic obstacle length scales) apart. The profile of effects with separation distance was shown to agree with the cold flow turbulence profile determined in cold flows by other researchers. However, the present results showed that the maximum effect in explosions is experienced further downstream than the position of maximum turbulence determined in the cold flow studies. It is suggested that this may be due to the convection of the turbulence profile by the propagating flame. The present results would suggest that in many previous studies of repeated obstacles the separation distance investigated might not have included the worst case set up, and therefore existing explosion protection guidelines may not be derived from worst case scenarios.     

Influence of vacuum degree on the effect of gas explosion suppression by vacuum chamber

In order to study the influence of vacuum degree on gas explosion suppression by vacuum chamber, this study used the 0.2 mm thick polytetrafluoroethylene film as the diaphragm of vacuum chamber to carry out a series of experiments of gas explosion suppression by vacuum chamber with the vacuum degree from −0.01 MPa to −0.08 MPa. The experimental results show that: under the condition of any vacuum degree, vacuum chamber can effectively suppress the explosion flame and overpressure; as vacuum degree changes, the effect of gas explosion suppression using vacuum chamber is slightly different. Vacuum chamber has obvious influence on propagation characteristics of the explosion flame. After explosion flame passes by vacuum chamber, the flame signal weakens, the flame thickness becomes thicker, and the flame speed slows down. With the increase of the vacuum degree of vacuum chamber, the flame speed can be prevented from rising early by vacuum chamber. The higher the vacuum degree is, the more obviously the vacuum chamber attenuates the explosion overpressure, the smaller the average overpressure is, and the better effect of the gas explosion suppression is. Vacuum chamber can effectively weaken the explosion impulse under each vacuum degree. From the beginning of −0.01 MPa, the vacuum chamber can gradually weaken explosion impulse as the vacuum degree increases, and the effect of gas explosion suppression gradually becomes better. When the vacuum degree is greater than −0.04 MPa, the increase of vacuum degree can make the explosion overpressure decrease but have little influence on the explosion impulse. Therefore, the vacuum chamber has the preferable suppression effect with equal to or greater than −0.04 MPa vacuum degree.     

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.     

Overpressure characteristics of aluminium dust explosion vented through a relief pipe

A parametric experimental study of an aluminium dust explosion, initiated in a vessel and vented through a relief pipe, was performed. The aim is to clarify the overpressure characteristics in a vessel and relief pipe, during aluminium dust explosion venting, especially when a burn-up phenomenon occurs. For a vessel of fixed size, the influence of pipe diameter and pipe length on burn-up was discussed. Results demonstrate that burn-up occurs shortly after flame only enters the initial part of the relief pipe when the original dust concentration in the vessel is at relatively high level, which is usually higher than the optimum concentration obtained from the confined vessel. When burn-up occurs, the maximal overpressure continues to increase rather than to decay along the initial part of the relief pipe. If burn-up is vigorous, a second peak on overpressure-time curve in the vessel could appear. By adding 0.1 g aluminium powders on the membrane, the second overpressure peak may even surpass the first peak. Extending pipe lengths can strengthen the overpressures around the position where burn-up occurs in the relief pipe. Reducing the pipe diameter can increase the burn-up severity in the relief pipe owing to the increased dust concentration and the pressure accumulation.     

综合管廊燃气舱结构形式对燃气爆炸超压的影响*

为研究地下综合管廊燃气舱结构形式对燃气爆炸超压的影响,采用数值模拟的方法,改变燃气舱高度,通风分区长度和局部开口大小,分析不同情况下的燃气爆炸超压变化规律。结果表明:冲击波传播速度随燃气舱高度的增加而减小,随着高度的增加,超压峰值曲线由“驼峰状”逐渐变为两端高中间低的“盆形”,爆炸过程产生的最大超压与高度成反比关系。超压峰值在340 m处接近0 kPa,延长通风分区并不会增加超压峰值,可以在考虑防火的要求下根据实际情况适当延长通风分区的长度。局部开口的存在使得爆炸气流能够自由泄压,超压峰值与开口的大小成反比关系。     

Medium-scale experiments on vented hydrogen deflagration

A series of medium-scale experiments on vented hydrogen deflagration was carried out at the KIT test side in a chamber of 1 × 1 × 1 m³ size with different vent areas. The experimental program was divided in three series: (1) uniform hydrogen–air mixtures; (2) stratified hydrogen–air mixtures within the enclosure; (3) a layer deflagration of uniform mixture. Different uniform hydrogen–air mixtures from 7 to 18% hydrogen were tested with variable vent areas 0.01–1.0 m². One test was done for rich mixture with 50% H₂. To vary a gradient of concentration, all the experiments with a stratified hydrogen–air mixtures had about 4%H₂ at the bottom and 10 to 25% H₂ at the top of the enclosure. Measurement system consisted of a set of pressure sensors and thermocouples inside and outside the enclosure. Four cameras combined with a schlieren system (BOS) for visual observation of combustion process through transparent sidewalls were used. Four experiments were selected as benchmark experiments to compare them with four times larger scale FM Global tests (Bauwens et al., 2011) and to provide experimental data for further CFD modelling. The nature of external explosion leading to the multiple pressure peak structure was investigated in details. Current work addresses knowledge gaps regarding indoor hydrogen accumulations and vented deflagrations. The experiments carried out within this work attend to contribute the data for improved criteria for hydrogen–air mixture and enclosure parameters to avoid unacceptable explosion overpressure. Based on theoretical analysis and current experimental data a further vent sizing technology for hydrogen deflagrations in confined spaces should be developed, taking into account the peculiarities of hydrogen–air mixture deflagrations in presence of obstacles, concentration gradients of hydrogen–air mixtures, dimensions of a layer of flammable cloud, vent inertia, etc.     

Effects of obstacles and deposited coal dust on characteristics of premixed methane–air explosions in a long closed pipe

An experimental system including pressure transducer, electric spark ignition device, data acquisition and control unit was set up to investigate methane–air explosions in a horizontal pipe closed at both ends with or without the presence of obstacles and deposited coal dust. The experimental results show that explosion characteristics depended on the methane content, on the layout of obstacles, and on the deposited coal dust. Pressure fluctuation with a frequency of 150 Hz appeared in its crest when the methane content was close to the stoichiometric ratio (9.5% methane percentage by volume). The pressure rise rate increased locally when a single obstacle was mounted in the pipe, but it had little effect on the pressure peak. Repeated obstacles mounted in the pipe caused the pressure to rise sharply, and the mean maximum explosion overpressure increased with the increase of the obstacle’s number. The amplitude of pressure fluctuation was reduced when deposited coal dust was paved in the bottom of the pipe. However, when repeated obstacles were arranged inside, the maximum overpressures were higher with coal dust deposited than pure gas explosions.     

Vent burst pressure effects on vented gas explosion reduced pressure

The overpressure generated in a 10 L cylindrical vented vessel with an L/D of 2.8 was investigated, with end ignition opposite the vent, as a function of the vent static burst pressure, P_stat, from 35 to 450 mb. Three different K_v (V^2/3/A_v) of 3.6, 7.2 and 21.7 were investigated for 10% methane–air and 7.5% ethylene–air. It was shown that the dynamic burst pressure, P_burst, was higher than P_stat with a proportionality constant of 1.37. For 10% methane–air P_burst was the controlling peak pressure for K <∼8. This was contrary to the assumption that P_red > P_burst in the literature and in EU and US standards. For higher K_v the overpressure due to flow through the vent, P_fv, was the dominant overpressure and the static burst pressure was not additive to the external overpressure. Literature on the influence of P_stat at low K_v was shown to support the present finding and it is recommended that the influence of P_stat in gas venting standards is revised.