What is an explosion? A case history of an investigation for the insurance industry

After a large property loss, the insured and insurers of a hydroelectric power plant in North America became embroiled in subrogation to determine if the event could be characterized as an explosion. The subject insurance policy provided coverage for explosions, but excluded mechanical breakdowns. Analysis by Exponent Failure Analysis Associates indicated that a consistent, cross-disciplinary definition for explosions can be extracted from published scientific literature, and that this incident was not an explosion because certain key requirements were missing during the accident. However, this investigation has highlighted the necessity for insurance companies and their insureds to better understand this term and thereby minimize future coverage disputes. This paper presents an analysis of this incident and describes the necessary characteristics of an explosion.     

空中交通管制员胜任力模型及其影响关系分析

为揭示空中交通管制员胜任力结构及其元素对体系的影响关系,首先通过问卷分析建立管制员胜任力模型,然后结合三角模糊数、决策试验与评价实验室法构建胜任力影响关系图以分析各元素间的影响关系,最后模拟胜任力元素对体系的影响关系。结果表明:胜任力模型由元胜任力、社会胜任力、认知胜任力、职能胜任力构成,共15项指标;元胜任力影响社会胜任力与认知胜任力,这三者又共同影响职能胜任力,社会胜任力对认知胜任力也具有一定影响;按对胜任力体系影响大小排列依次为元胜任力、认知胜任力、社会胜任力、职能胜任力;按变化的难易程度排列依次为元胜任力、社会胜任力、认知胜任力、职能胜任力。管制员胜任力模型及其影响关系能为管制员安全管理中的人员资质能力建设提供一定的参考。     

Initial phase modelling in numerical explosion applied to process safety

The utilisation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in process safety has increased significantly in recent years. The modelling of accidental explosion via CFD has in many cases replaced the classical Multi Energy and Brake Strehlow methods. The benefits obtained with CFD modelling can be diminished if proper modelling of the initial phase of explosion is neglected. In the early stages of an explosion, the flame propagates in a quasi-laminar regime. Proper modelling of the initial laminar phase is a key aspect in order to predict the peak pressure and the time to peak pressure. The present work suggests a modelling approach for the initial laminar phase in explosion scenarios. Findings are compared with experimental data for two classical explosion test cases which resemble the common features in chemical process areas (confinement and congestion). A detailed analysis of the threshold for the transition from laminar to turbulent regime is also carried out. The modelling is implemented in a fully 3D Navier–Stokes compressible formulation. Combustion is treated using a laminar flamelet approach based on the Bray, Moss and Libby (BML) formulation. A novel modified porosity approach developed for the unstructured solver is also considered. Results agree satisfactorily with experiments and the modelling is found to be robust.     

煤矿瓦斯爆炸发展规律及防治的综述及展望

针对瓦斯爆炸事故在矿井开采中的危害及防治,从爆炸发展规律和爆炸防治两大方面对国内外瓦斯爆炸研究状况进行了综合评述.国内外学者通过理论法、实验法、数值模拟法对瓦斯爆炸进行研究,瓦斯爆炸发展规律方面的研究涉及到瓦斯爆炸的机理、瓦斯组分及浓度对爆炸发展规律的影响、爆炸发生的条件及危害、爆炸过程中的燃烧阶段变化及流体流动状态变...     

新型复合粘弹阻尼器不同加载波下的性能研究

为了研究新型复合粘弹阻尼器在不同加载波下的力学性能,分别对其施加正弦波与三角波进行抗疲劳与变幅相关性试验,比较2种加载波下新型复合粘弹阻尼器的力学性能变化规律.结果表明:新型复合粘弹阻尼器,在抗疲劳试验中正弦波加载下的力学性能优于三角波加载;变幅试验中,随着应变幅值的增大,三角波加载下的最大剪应力、存储剪切模量和等效刚...     

Low rate releases of hazardous light gases under semi-confined geometry: A consequence based approach and case-study application

As evidenced by accident statistics, an important factor when considering the safe operation of process plants is the effective mitigation of the effects of gaseous flammable releases, either by a prevention, or a protection approach. A detailed historical analysis was performed considering accidental scenarios associated with the use and management of light gases, starting from raw data selected from FACTS database and analysed by a causal multi-layer method. Results revealed that the major part of the accidental releases involving methane, hydrogen, ethene, ammonia can be attributed to organizational or process/plant immediate causes. As expected, the most frequent scenarios following the release are fire and explosion. We focus our attention on the development of a short-cut method allowing preliminary evaluation of the maximum gaseous build-up under semi-confined conditions, limiting the effects of the fire/explosion scenario to a tolerable level. The limitations of the model that is applied to selected case-studies and require further experimental validation are critically discussed. The results of the application of the model, which can boast of being safe but not disproportionately conservative, can be set as a maximum threshold in proper designing technical measures aiming at limiting the effects to a tolerable level by protection methods, e.g. isolation, venting, suppression and containment.     

Prediction of BLEVE mechanical energy by implementation of artificial neural network

In the event of a BLEVE, the overpressure wave can cause important effects over a certain area. Several thermodynamic assumptions have been proposed as the basis for developing methodologies to predict both the mechanical energy associated to such a wave and the peak overpressure. According to a recent comparative analysis, methods based on real gas behavior and adiabatic irreversible expansion assumptions can give a good estimation of this energy. In this communication, the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach has been implemented to predict the BLEVE mechanical energy for the case of propane and butane. Temperature and vessel filling degree at failure have been considered as input parameters (plus vessel volume), and the BLEVE blast energy has been estimated as output data by the ANN model. A Bayesian Regularization algorithm was chosen as the three-layer backpropagation training algorithm. Based on the neurons optimization process, the number of neurons at the hidden layer was five in the case of propane and four in the case of butane. The transfer function applied in this layer was a sigmoid, because it had an easy and straightforward differentiation for using in the backpropagation algorithm. For the output layer, the number of neurons had to be one in both cases, and the transfer function was purelin (linear). The model performance has been compared with experimental values, proving that the mechanical energy of a BLEVE explosion can be adequately predicted with the Artificial Neural Network approach.     

Effect of flame propagation regime on pressure evolution of nano and micron PMMA dust explosions

Experiments using an open space dust explosion apparatus and a standard 20 L explosion apparatus on nano and micron polymethyl methacrylate dust explosions were conducted to reveal the differences in flame and pressure evolutions. Then the effect of combustion and flame propagation regimes on the explosion overpressure characteristics was discussed. The results showed that the flame propagation behavior, flame temperature distribution and ion current distribution all demonstrated the different flame structures for nano and micron dust explosions. The combustion and flame propagation of 100 nm and 30 μm PMMA dust clouds were mainly controlled by the heat transfer efficiency between the particles and external heat sources. Compared with the cluster diffusion dominant combustion of 30 μm dust flame, the premixed-gas dominant combustion of 100 nm dust flame determined a quicker pyrolysis and combustion reaction rate, a faster flame propagation velocity, a stronger combustion reaction intensity, a quicker heat release rate and a higher amount of released reaction heat, which resulted in an earlier pressure rise, a larger maximum overpressure and a higher explosion hazard class. The complex combustion and propagation regime of agglomerated particles strongly influenced the nano flame propagation and explosion pressure evolution characteristics, and limited the maximum overpressure.     

Consequence prediction for dust explosions involving interconnected vessels using computational fluid dynamics modeling

Combustible dust explosions continue to present a significant threat toward operating personnel and pneumatic conveyance equipment in a wide variety of processing industries. Following ignition of suspended fuel within a primary enclosure volume, propagation of flame and pressure fronts toward upstream or downstream interconnected enclosures can result in devastating secondary explosions if not impeded through an appropriate isolation mechanism. In such occurrences, an accelerated flame front may result in flame jet ignition within the secondary vessel, greatly increasing the overall explosion severity. Unlike an isolated deflagration event with quantifiable reduced pressures (vent sizing according to NFPA 68 guidance), oscillation of pressure between primary and secondary process vessels leads to uncertain overpressure effects. Dependent on details of the application such as relative enclosure volumes, relief area, fuel type, suspended concentration, duct size, and duct length, the maximum system pressure in both interconnected vessels can be unpredictable. This study proposes the use of FLame ACceleration Simulator (FLACS) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to provide reliable consequence predictions for specific case scenarios of dust deflagrations involving interconnected equipment. Required minimum supplement to the originally calculated relief area (A_v) was determined through iterative simulation, allowing for reduced explosion pressures (P_red) to be maintained below theoretical enclosure design strengths (P_es).