CFD-based assessment and visualization of the failure consequences of LPG tankers

This paper presents a simulation analysis of the explosions following an LPG leak and visualizes the consequences of the accident to reduce the consequences of the LPG leak explosion. Firstly, this paper proposes a CFD numerical simulation-based method for visualizing the consequences of LPG tanker failure. The method combines satellite maps and CFD numerical simulation data to visualize the consequences of LPG leaks and explosions, taking into account the influence of obstacles on the danger range of leaks and explosions; Secondly, this paper applies the method to a liquefied petroleum gas accident that occurred in the Wenling section of the Shenhai Expressway and performs CFD numerical simulation on the accident process and visualizes the consequences of the accident. Therefore, this method can provide a theoretical reference for the prior prevention of LPG accidents and the analysis of the consequences of accidents, as well as certain practical guidance instructive.     

Inhibition effects of aluminum dust explosions by various kinds of ammonium polyphosphate

In this work, vinyltriethoxysilane (A151) and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (KH550) were used to modify ammonium polyphosphate (APP), showing that the dispersibility of APP could be improved remarkably by A151 and KH550. The maximum explosion pressure of aluminum dust explosion decreased with the addition of APP, A151-APP (APP-A) and KH550-APP (APP-B), with the exception of the case where the inerting ratio (α) of APP-A was less than 0.4. After the addition of APP-B, there was little difference in flame propagation behavior and explosion pressure compared with that of adding APP, indicating that APP-B could retain the inhibition performance of APP compared with APP-A. When the inerting ratios of APP, APP-A and APP-B were 1.2, 1.4 and 1.4, respectively, the aluminum dust explosion could be completely inhibited. The explosion residues of aluminum dust/APP mainly consisted of Al₂O₃, P-containing and N-containing compounds. It could be analyzed that APP exerted the inhibition effect through both chemical and physical effects.     

Simulation of scenario characteristics of LPG tank explosion accident and its contribution to emergency planning: A case study

Leakage and explosion of hazardous chemicals during road transportation can cause serious building damage and casualties, and adoption of highly-efficient emergency rescue measures plays a critical role in reducing accidental hazards. Considering a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) transport tanker explosion accident that occurred in Wenling, Zhejiang Province, China on June 13, 2020 as example, this study proposes a risk assessment framework. This framework recreates the leakage and explosion of the accident process using FLACS v10.9, suggests plans for evacuation, describes the rescue areas of different levels, and explores the influence of environmental factors on the evacuation and rescue areas. The results show that simulated and predicted distributions of fuel vapour cloud concentration and explosion overpressure can provide a reference basis for rapid rescue activities; the characterization of the dynamic effects of wind speed, wind direction, and temperature with respect to the evacuation and rescue areas can be used as theoretical support for on-site adjustment of rescue forces. The role of obstacles can prevent the expansion of the evacuation areas under low wind-speed conditions, and the presence of highly congested obstacles determines the level of the rescue area. The results obtained are important for the risk analysis and the development of emergency rescue measures in case of explosion accidents associated with transportation of hazardous chemicals on high-hazard and high-sensitive road sections.     

Experimental and theoretical research on the inhibition performance of ethanol gasoline/air explosion by C6F12O

The safety issue of ethanol gasoline and the methods to control or weaken its explosion have attracted attention. To clarify the effect of C₆F₁₂O (perfluoro(2-methyl-3-pentanone)) on the explosion of ethanol gasoline-air mixtures and intrinsic mechanism, the explosion overpressure and flame propagation behavior under different equivalence ratios (φ = 0.6–0.8) and C₆F₁₂O concentrations (χ_inh = 0–4.0%) were experimentally obtained. The detailed inhibitor reaction process was also obtained by CHEMKIN based on a new assembly kinetic mechanism. The results show that the effects of C₆F₁₂O on the explosion characteristics of ethanol gasoline varied with χ_inh and φ. For rich flames, C₆F₁₂O is more effective than and heptafluoropropane (C₃HF₇) and nitrogen (N₂) in suppressing explosions; for lean and equivalence ratio flames, the addition of C₆F₁₂O may result in more severe explosions. The decrease in chemical reactivity is mainly because the mole fractions of OH and H radicals and the proportion of paths H radicals involved decrease after adding C₆F₁₂O, and R1500: CF₃COF + H = CF₃CO + HF, R965: CF₂:O + H = CF:O + HF, R863: CF₃ + H = CF₂ + HF are main suppressing reactions.     

Influence of sewage culvert cover plate thickness on dynamic response and damage of the cover plate under gas explosion

In order to address the risk of combustible gas explosions in sewage culverts, a numerical model was established using ANSYS/LS-DYNA software. The model consisted of a culvert and a cover plate, and was used to study the effect of cover plate thickness (ranging from 0.08 m to 0.12 m) on the dynamic response and damage of the structure under explosive loads. The results indicated that, during the loading negative pressure stage, the equivalent stress peak value of the central monitoring unit of the cover plate first increased and then decreased with increasing cover plate thickness. Additionally, the maximum principal stress peak value first decreased and then increased, while the maximum shear stress peak value first increased and then decreased. During the loading positive pressure stage, the maximum principal strain peak value of the monitoring unit decreased overall with increasing cover plate thickness. However, the equivalent plastic strain peak value initially increased and then decreased gradually. The equivalent strain indicated that plastic damage occurred in the cover plate. Beyond a thickness of 0.11 m, increasing the cover thickness did not appear to enhance its resistance to plastic damage. The damage analysis revealed that as cover plate thickness increased, the peak displacement and velocity of the monitoring unit continued to decrease, while the overall stability and explosive resistance of the cover plate increased. Additionally, the number of damaged fragments decreased. However, once the cover plate thickness reached 0.11 m, the bonding performance of the reinforced concrete structure had been fully developed, increasing the thickness of the cover plate no longer had a significant impact on the explosive resistance of the cover plate.     

Study on acceleration and suppression properties of coal gangue with different void fractions on gas explosion propagation

Gas explosion is one of the main disasters in coal mining. Plenty of coal gangue are generally distributed in the disaster areas in gob. Experiments were carried out to explore the propagation law of the gas explosion distributed by coal gangue. The variation characteristics of the overpressure, pressure rise rate, and flame shape with void fractions were analyzed. The results showed that the effect of the coal gangue on the explosion intensity changed from suppression to acceleration with the increase of void fraction, the flame front upstream blockage area changed from laminar state to turbulent divergent state, and a reverse flame was formed. When the void fraction of the coal gangue was 0.50–0.65, the maximum overpressure downstream of the blocked area were positively correlated with the void fraction and the critical suppression range was between 0.50 and 0.55. When the void fraction was lower than 0.50, the flame was quenched in the coal gangue, neither the flame nor the pressure could pass through the blocked area. It is helpful to guide the improvement of coal recovery process to avoid the expansion of the explosion impact in coalmine gob.     

Year-round observation of atmospheric inorganic aerosols in urban Beijing: Size distribution, source analysis, and reduction mechanism

To investigate particle characteristics and find an effective measure to control severe particle pollution, year-round observation of size-segregated inorganic aerosols was conducted in Beijing from January to December, 2016. The sampled atmospheric particles all presented bimodal size distribution at four pollution levels (clear, slight pollution, moderate pollution and severe pollution), and peak values appeared at the size range of 0.7-2.1 μm and >9.0 μm, respectively. As dominant particle compositions, NO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻, and NH₄⁺ in four pollution levels all showed significant peaks in fine mode, especially at the size range of 1.1-2.1 μm. Secondary inorganic aerosols accounted for about 67.6% (36.3% (secondary sulfates) + 31.3% (secondary nitrates)) of the total sources of fine particles in urban Beijing. Severe pollution of fine particles was mainly caused by the air masses transported from nearby western and southern areas, which are industrial and densely populated region, respectively. Sensitivity tests further revealed that the control measures focusing on ammonium emission reduction was the most effective for particle pollution mitigation, and fine particles all showed nonlinear responses after reducing ammonium, nitrate, and sulfate concentrations, with the fitting curves of y = -120.8x - 306.1x² + 290.2x³, y = -43.5x - 67.8x², and y = -25.8x - 110.4x² + 7.6x³, respectively (y and x present fine particle mass variation (μg/m³) and concentration reduction ratio (CRR)/100 (dimensionless)). Overall, our study presents useful information for understanding the characteristics of atmospheric inorganic aerosols in urban Beijing, as well as offers policy makers with effective measure for mitigating particle pollution.     

Management of used lead acid battery in China: Secondary lead industry progress,policies and problems

The amount of used lead acid batteries rises along with the rapid development of battery manufacture in China. The battery manufacture and recycling industry has developed sharply in these recent 5 years. The annual production of secondary lead from used lead acid batteries in China increased rapidly to 1.5 million tonnes (MT) in 2013, making china the world's largest secondary lead producer. Secondary lead enterprises are mainly located in the middle and eastern regions of China, with a legal production capacity of 3 MT/year. Environmental pollution problems began to happen frequently from 2009. After 2011, the government began to put in efforts to promote pollution control, eliminate outdated production capacity, support advanced production and technology innovation research, and has achieved remarkable results. However, the main existing problems are that the proportion of secondary lead production is only 30% of the total lead production, no formal recycling network has been established and the overall level of industrial technology and equipment is outdated. Compared with developed countries, this paper predicts that, secondary proportion will reach 44% in 2015 and 60% in 2028. Finally some countermeasures are given to the recycling mode and technology promotion.     

低温等离子体技术在乙烯装置VOCs治理中的应用

针对乙烯裂解装置污水会逸散出少量的VOCs气体,其苯系物及烯烃类物质含量高、恶臭明显、湿度大、浓度波动大,治理难度极大,所处环境为火灾爆炸危险区域且废气可能达到爆炸下限,安全控制措施要求高这一情况,建成了国内首套防爆型低温等离子体VOCs废气治理设施,在某石化公司防爆1区安全运行一年,实践证明:苯系物、烯烃、硫化物的去除效率可达98%以上,达到国标的各项要求,电气安全控制措施能够满足防爆1区。     

动高压法合成金刚石技术中的环境和安全问题分析

针对动高压法合成金刚石研究和生产实践中只重视产品的生产制备,而普遍忽视相关的安全和环境问胚的现实,从技术基本原理和工艺过程的主要环节对制备技术可能给社会安全、自然环境和工作人员的身体健康带来的危害进行了比较系统的分析.生产原材料及其反应废料和废气中包含了多种危险化学品或有毒害作用的物质,涉及爆炸品、酸性腐蚀品、氧化剂、有毒气体,如TNT、HClO4、HNO3、H2O2、HF、K2Cr2O7、Cl2、NO等.对它们的具体毒害特性进行了总结,对于相应的治理措施提出了建议.