矿井火区可燃性混合气体爆炸三角形判断法及其爆炸危险性分析

矿井火区可燃性混合气体爆炸危险性的判断 ,目前常用单纯的瓦斯爆炸三角形判别法。此法对实际的判断往往未综合考虑火区温度的影响。为此 ,笔者论述了矿井火区多种可燃性气体同时存在时 ,其混合气体爆炸三角形各参数的工程计算方法 :爆炸界限可用 Le Chatelier法 ,但需根据火区实测温度进行修正 ;爆炸时的临界氧浓度 ,则需用另一种三角形图示法予以确定。由此画出的混合气体爆炸三角形分析图 ,可用于矿井火区 ,尤其是矿井大面积火区的密闭和启封过程中 ,作为可燃性混合气体爆炸危险性的综合判断及其防爆措施的制定 ,都具有实用价值和指导意义     

Does your facility have a dust problem: Methods for evaluating dust explosion hazards

The hazards of dust explosions prevailing in plants are dependent on a large variety of factors that include process parameters, such as pressure, temperature and flow characteristics, as well as equipment properties, such as geometry layout, the presence of moving elements, dust explosion characteristics and mitigating measures. A good dust explosion risk assessment is a thorough method involving the identification of all hazards, their probability of occurrence and the severity of potential consequences. The consequences of dust explosions are described as consequences for personnel and equipment, taking into account consequences of both primary and secondary events.While certain standards cover all the basic elements of explosion prevention and protection, systematic risk assessments and area classifications are obligatory in Europe, as required by EU ATEX and Seveso II directives. In the United States, NFPA 654 requires that the design of the fire and explosion safety provisions shall be based on a process hazard analysis of the facility, process, and the associated fire or explosion hazards. In this paper, we will demonstrate how applying such techniques as SCRAM (short-cut risk analysis method) can help identify potentially hazardous conditions and provide valuable assistance in reducing high-risk areas. The likelihood of a dust explosion is based on the ignition probability and the probability of flammable dust clouds arising. While all possible ignition sources are reviewed, the most important ones include open flames, mechanical sparks, hot surfaces, electric equipment, smoldering combustion (self-ignition) and electrostatic sparks and discharges. The probability of dust clouds arising is closely related to both process and dust dispersion properties.Factors determining the consequences of dust explosions include how frequently personnel are present, the equipment strength, implemented consequence-reducing measures and housekeeping, as risk assessment techniques demonstrate the importance of good housekeeping especially due to the enormous consequences of secondary dust explosions (despite their relatively low probability). The ignitibility and explosibility of the potential dust clouds also play a crucial role in determining the overall risk.Classes describe both the likelihood of dust explosions and their consequences, ranging from low probabilities and limited local damage, to high probability of occurrence and catastrophic damage. Acceptance criteria are determined based on the likelihood and consequence of the events. The risk assessment techniques also allow for choosing adequate risk reducing measures: both preventive and protective. Techniques for mitigating identified explosions risks include the following: bursting disks and quenching tubes, explosion suppression systems, explosion isolating systems, inerting techniques and temperature control. Advanced CFD tools (DESC) can be used to not only assess dust explosion hazards, but also provide valuable insight into protective measures, including suppression and venting.     

Explosion hazards related to hydrogen releases in nuclear facilities

Hydrogen explosion risk needs to be carefully assessed and evaluated in nuclear facilities because of the potential catastrophic consequences: breakdown of safety equipments, failure of containment, dissemination of radioactive materials in the environment.When studying an indoor release, one possible simplification is to assume a perfect gas mixing inside the room. This assumption is effectively often used to evaluate toxic risks in the environment outside a building (Mastellone, Ponte, & Arena, 2003). However, perfect gas mixing assumption is only a rough approximation, as indoor concentrations can largely differ from mean values, due to buoyancy, recirculation zones or obstacles for example.In order to better evaluate the risk of explosion in case of an accidental release of hydrogen, IRSN conducted a numerical study using FLACS CFD software. Several parameters have been studied to identify dangerous situations and draw a representative picture of the risk: room size, position and direction of hydrogen leak, ventilation characteristics. Hydrogen release flow rates used for numerical simulations have been chosen as the highest leak rate which, by applying the assumption of perfect mixing, produces an average concentration in the room equal to hydrogen lower flammability limit (LFL).Simulation results indicate that in some particular configurations, especially for impinging hydrogen jets, hydrogen concentrations can locally be above LFL and then create explosive atmospheres with significant volumes.     

Effect of scale on the explosion of methane in air and its shockwave

Explosion experiments using premixed gas in a duct have become a significant method of investigating methane-air explosions in underground coal mines. The duct sizes are far less than that of an actual mine gallery. Whether the experimental results in a duct are applicable to analyze a methane-air explosion in a practical mine gallery needed to be investigated. This issue involves the effects of scale on a gas explosion and its shockwave in a constrained space. The commercial software package AutoReaGas, a finite element computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code suitable for gas explosions and blast problems, was used to carry out the numerical simulation for the explosion processes of a methane-air mixture in the gallery (or duct) at various scales. Based on the numerical simulation and its analysis, the effect of scale on the degree of correlation with the real situation was studied for a methane-air explosion and its shockwave in a square section gallery (or duct). This study shows that the explosion process of the methane-air mixture relates to the scales of the gallery or duct. The effect of scale decreases gradually with the distance from the space containing the methane-air mixture and the air shock wave propagation conforms approximately to the geometric similarity law in the far field where the scaled distance (ratio of the propagation distance and the height (or width) of the gallery section) is over 80.     

Limiting oxygen concentration for coal dusts for explosion hazard analysis and safety

Investigation of explosion characteristics of coal dust was undertaken as a part of regular research program at CSIR-CBRI, Roorkee, India, for designing explosion safety measures for coal dust handling installations. This paper presents results of detailed experimental work on determination of Limiting Oxygen Concentration (LOC) and influence of reduced oxygen levels on explosion severity data for two types of coals with varying volatile matter as 27.18% (coal A) and 19.69% (coal B) from Jharia coalfield of India determined at ambient conditions with 20-L Spherical Vessel established at CSIR-CBRI. The effects of coal particle size and moisture content were evaluated. Data presented will be used for hazard analysis, designing explosion preventive measures, and explosion severity reduction by involving the use of inert gases for installations handling pulverized coal with similar nature. The importance of ignition source energy in determining LOC data is highlighted. The data collected lead to an extension of the current data for coal dusts as found in the literature. Limiting oxygen concentrations were found as 7% for coal A and 8% for coal B for the size representative to that used in pulverized coal boilers and moisture content ～4%.     

API standard 521 guidance on mixing of hot/cold liquids and prevention of superheat limit explosions

American Petroleum Institute (API) standards and recommended practices have identified inadvertent mixing of hot and cold liquids as a potential cause for equipment overpressure since 1955. The limited guidance has been informative but provides minimal if any details on conditions that could cause an overpressure and its potential severity. Therefore, the user must interpret how and when to prevent and/or mitigate the scenario. This guidance has changed little over the years. In June 2020, API published the 7th Edition of API Standard 521 which now provides specific guidance as to conditions whereby pressure relief devices can be considered for protection and conditions where prevention remains as the only recourse. This paper discusses the basis for the revised guidance in API Standard 521 and includes supplemental guidance.     

A review on hybrid mixture explosions: Safety parameters,explosion regimes and criteria,flame characteristics

The hybrid mixture of combustible dusts and flammable gases/vapours widely exist in various industries, including mining, petrochemical, metallurgical, textile and pharmaceutical. It may pose a higher explosion risk than gas/vapor or dust/mist explosions since the hybrid explosions can still be initiated even though both the gas and the dust concentration are lower than their lower explosion limit (LEL) values. Understanding the explosion threat of hybrid mixtures not only contributes to the inherent safety and sustainability of industrial process design, but promotes the efficiency of loss prevention and mitigation. To date, however, there is no test standard with reliable explosion criteria available to determine the safety parameters of all types of hybrid mixture explosions, nor the flame propagation and quenching mechanism or theoretical explanation behind these parameters. This review presents a state-of-the-art overview of the comprehensive understanding of hybrid mixture explosions mainly in an experimental study level; thereby, the main limitations and challenges to be faced are explored. The discussed main contents include the experimental measurement for the safety parameters of hybrid mixtures (i.e., explosion sensitivity and severity parameters) via typical test apparatuses, explosion regime and criterion of hybrid mixtures, the detailed flame propagation/quenching characteristics behind the explosion severities/sensitivities of hybrid mixtures. This work aims to summarize the essential basics of experimental studies, and to provide the perspectives based on the current research gaps to understand the explosion hazards of hybrid mixtures in-depth.     

Study on the effect of explosion suppression equipment on hydrogen explosions

Hydrogen safety is a critical component of modern industrial safety production. In this study, a set of hydrogen explosion suppression equipment is designed independently. The suppression effects of the equipment on hydrogen explosions are studied at normal room temperature and pressure. The experimental results show that the actuation time of the equipment and the spraying mode of the suppressant are the main factors leading to the failure of the hydrogen explosion suppression equipment. The flame, with a hydrogen equivalence ratio of 0.7 and 1.0, spreads out of control when the suppressant touches the flame front. At this time, the addition of the suppressant enhances flame propagation and increases pressure. In addition, because the suppressant does not fully cover the developing flame, the hydrogen flame with the equivalence ratio of 0.5 eventually breaks through the suppressant cloud, and the explosion happens. However, when the initial flame is completely covered by the suppressant, the hydrogen explosion is suppressed by hydrogen explosion suppression equipment. This research provides a solid and reliable foundation for hydrogen explosion suppression equipment in industrial safety and production protection.     

Investigation of how pressure influences the thermal decomposition behavior of azodicarbonamide

Azodicarbonamide (ADC) is a type of azo compound with outstanding application performance, it is always used as a blowing agent in the production of foamed plastics. Based on previous studies, it has been considered harmless in its practical application process. Nevertheless, our research has overturned this standpoint and denoted the special exothermic behavior of ADC under specific use processes, especially when it was placed in a high-pressure system. In this study, a simultaneous thermogravimetric analyzer (STA) was employed to preliminarily evaluate the thermal stability of ADC under atmospheric pressure. Followed with calorimetric experiments by high-pressure differential scanning calorimetry (HP DSC), the exothermic behaviors of ADC under different initial furnace pressures were investigated. The obtained results revealed that the thermal decomposition rate of ADC linearly increases along with increasing testing pressure, which shows a highly autocatalytic characteristic. The peak power of DSC curve breathtakingly reached 73 W/g when the initial testing pressure was set at 4 MPa, and the overall decomposition heat reached 1261 J/g with the scanning rate at 4 ^°C/min. Furthermore, the decomposition mechanism, thermal hazards, and explosion potential were comprehensively evaluated in this study for the first time.     

Experimental study on water sealing of fire barriers and explosion venting of large-scale pipeline with low-concentration gas

Low-concentration gas transported in pipelines may lead to explosion accidents because gas with a concentration of less than 30% is prone to explode. To reduce the incidence of gas explosions, water sealing of fire barriers is implemented, and explosion venting devices are installed along the pipeline. To investigate their suppression effect on low-concentration gas explosion, experiments using methane–air premixed gas under different conditions were implemented on a DN500 pipeline test system. The effects of three types of explosion venting forms (rupture disc, asbestos board, and plastic film) on explosion overpressure and flame were compared and analysed. Results show that the rupture disc, asbestos board, and plastic film can achieve adequate explosion venting, causing the peak decay rates of explosion overpressure to reach 82.37%, 81.72%, and 90.79%, respectively. The foregoing indicates that the greater the static activation pressure of the explosion venting form, the higher the peak explosion overpressure at each measurement point. Moreover, the shorter the explosion flame duration, the greater the flame propagation velocity. The research results provide an essential theoretical foundation for the effective suppression of gas explosion accidents in the process of low-concentration gas transportation.