Safety lessons and reflections following incinerator vent commissioning in a chemical plant; a case study of a complex socio-technical system

In a bulk chemical plant producing resins, a flashback from an incinerator through the vent system into the reactor hall occurred during commissioning of a newly installed vent header system. The original design of the vent header system was seriously flawed not being in line with current practice. Subsequently the vent header was re-designed into a rich/lean vent header system. This paper explores the reasons behind a number of incidents and near misses that occurred during both the commissioning of a vent header system and its recommissioning following system re-design. Furthermore, it reflects on some broader implications for approaches to safety around what can be recognised as complex socio-technical systems.     

Development of a measuring technique for simultaneous in situ detection of nanoscaled particle size distributions and gas temperatures

Point measurements of time-resolved LII signals have been performed in sooting premixed low pressure flames. Soot particle size distribution and gas temperature in these flames are known from independent measurements. This data is used to validate parameters of an improved LII model, where special emphasis is taken on the accurate modelling of mass and heat transfer rates. Using this model particle size distributions and gas temperatures can be estimated from time-resolved LII signals using non-linear regression. Standard numerical methods are applied. An experimental setup is presented, which allows measuring one-dimensional maps of particle size distribution and gas temperature. The technique is based on the one-dimensional and time-resolved detection of LII signals using a Streak camera.     

基于积分响应模型的气溶胶静电分级器设计与粒径分布测量

为改善气溶胶静电分级器分级测量性能,建立了其传递函数和积分响应理论模型.通过对关键参数理论模拟,设置了静电分级器样气流速、鞘气和样气流速比例等关键参数,并且通过试验对理论模型进行了验证,评价了该静电分级器分级测量性能.模拟结果表明,提高气流流速可以改善静电分级器的分级性能,而鞘气和样气流速比例过大会降低其传输效率,过小则会影响分辨率,流速比例可以设定为5~25.试验结果表明,积分响应理论计算的粒子数浓度与该静电分级器试验测量结果呈线性相关（R2=0.98）.研究显示,该静电分级器测量粒径与预测粒径的误差在5.0%以内,线性相关（R2=0.99）,且测量多个单分散和多分散粒径浓度谱型与商业化SMPS（scanning mobility particle sizer,扫描电迁移颗粒物粒径谱仪）基本一致,该传递函数和积分响应模型显著提高了静电分级器分级测量性能.      

SEASONAL ARIMA INFLOW MODELS FOR RESERVOIR SIZING1

ABSTRACT: The reliable sizing of reservoirs is a very important task of hydraulic engineering. Although many reservoirs throughout the world have been designed using Rippl's mass curves with historical inflow volumes at the dam site, this technique is now considered outdated. In this paper, synthetic series of monthly inflows are used as an alternative to historical inflow records. These synthetic series are generated from stochastic SARIMA (Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average) models. The analyzed data refer to the planned Almopeos Reservoir on the Almopeos River in Northern Greece with 19‐year monthly inflow series. The analysis of this study demonstrates the ability of SARIMA models, in conjunction with the adequate transformation, to forecast monthly inflows of one or more months ahead and generate synthetic series of monthly inflows that preserve the key statistics of the historical monthly inflows and their persistence Hurst coefficient K. The forecasted monthly inflows would be of help in evaluating the optimal real time reservoir operation policies and the generated synthetic series of monthly inflows can be used to provide a probabilistic framework for reservoir design and to cope with the situation where the design horizon of interest exceeds the length of the historical inflow record.     

隧道出口污染物排放及控制的研究

对于单向行驶的隧道 ,车辆沿隧道通行 ,排出的废气会自隧道洞口排出 ,造成局部大气污染。本文探讨了隧道出口污染物排放控制的方法 ,介绍了隧道出口废气扩散的机理及研究现状     

Experimental study on vented deflagration of hydrocarbon fuel-air mixtures in a 20-L semi-confined cylindrical vessel with a slight static activation pressure

The overpressure peaks and flame propagation characteristics of hydrocarbon fuel-air mixtures vented deflagration in a 20-L cylindrical vessel with a slight static activation overpressure (P_ST = 2.5 kPa) and five vent opening ratio were studied by a series of experiments. The experiments focused on the effect of vent opening ratio on the overpressure peaks and flame propagation characteristics of hydrocarbon fuel-air mixture vented deflagration. The internal overpressure-time profiles and high-speed photographs of flame propagation processes were obtained. The results showed that three overpressure peaks were distinguished in the internal overpressure-time profiles, caused by the burst vent cover (p_burst), the acceleration of burnt gas (p_fv), and the fierce external deflagration of vented unburned fuel (p_ext), respectively. The changing of the vent opening ratio had almost no effect on the value of p_burst and (dp_burst/dt). With increasing vent opening ratio, the values of p_fv, p_ext, (dp_fv/dt) and (dp_ext/dt) showed a decreasing trend while the values of p_burst and (dp_burst/dt) were nearly constant. The flame presented a hemispherical shape before the vent cover ruptured then developed as a mushroom shape after accelerated to external field. There were three flame speed peaks during flame propagation process, resulted from venting flow acceleration, external deflagration, and axial heat flux formed by internal combustion. With the increase of vent opening ratio, all of the maximum flame speed, external average flame speed, maximum flame distance and external flame duration showed a downward trend, excepting for the internal average flame speed almost remained constant.     

Energy-efficient HVAC system through chillers’ capacity sizing for a library building

Heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems in commercial buildings consume the largest amount of energy. Recent surge in energy cost necessitates constant re-evaluation of HVAC system for most of the buildings. The objective of this study is to present the strategic approach on energy saving analysis of the HVAC system and chiller sizing optimization for a library building. Energy modeling code (eQUEST) for buildings simulation has been applied to verify and predict the long-term energy consumption of HVAC systems. To improve the accuracy of simulation results, the actual performance curves of the chillers and pumps were the inputs of curve fitting data from on-site field measurements data. Energy consumption data acquisition from the building energy management system (BEMS) for one year has been conducted comprehensively to calibrate energy modeling and to quantify energy saving results. The results revealed good agreement between energy modeling and BEMS data with the error of less than 10%. Besides, energy savings through the chillers’ sizing based on cooling load profile could be achieved satisfactorily by utilizing energy modeling by using the actual chiller performance curve. The energy saving for HVAC system can be obtained satisfactorily at the saving of 110,362 kWh per year. It is expected that the study will stimulate a more robust investigation of energy-efficient and cost-effective HVAC system specific for library buildings.     

A novel framework-based cuckoo search algorithm for sizing and optimization of grid-independent hybrid renewable energy systems

Hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) turned into an appealing choice for supplying loads in remote areas. The application of smart grid principals in HRES provides a communication between the load and generation from the HRES. Using smart grid in the HRES will optimally utilize the generating resources to reschedule the loads depending on its importance. This paper presents a new proposed design and optimization simulation program for techno-economic sizing of grid-independent hybrid PV/wind/diesel/battery energy system using Cuckoo search (CS) optimization algorithm. Using of CS will help to get the global minimum cost condition and prevent the simulation to be stuck around local minimum. A new proposed simulation program (NPSP) is acquainted using CS to determine the optimum size of each component of the HRES for the lowest cost of generated energy and the lowest value of dummy energy, at highest reliability. A detailed economic methodology to obtain the price of the generated energy has been introduced. Results showed that using CS reduced the time required to obtain the optimal size with higher accuracy than other techniques used iterative techniques, Genetic Algorithm (GA), and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Numerous significant outcomes can be extracted from the proposed program that could help scientists and decision makers.     

烧结机尾及整粒除尘系统除尘器“电改袋”

叙述某烧结厂3套烧结机尾及整粒除尘系统的电除尘器改造为长袋低压脉冲除尘器的设计及工程实例。介绍原电除尘器存在的缺陷、“电改袋”具体措施、主要设备选型以及除尘系统运行数据测试结果等方面的问题。除尘系统可靠运行已2年,各项技术指标始终保持优良状态。     

Effects of hydrogen addition on the confined and vented explosion behavior of methane in air

Multi-component gas mixture explosion accidents occur and recur frequently, while the safety issues of multi-component gas mixture explosion for hydrogen–methane mixtures have rarely been addressed.Numerical simulation study on the confined and vented explosion characteristics of methane-hydrogen mixture in stoichiometric air was conducted both in the 5 L vessel and the 64 m³ chamber, involving different mixture compositions and initial pressures. Based on the results and analysis, it is shown that the addition of hydrogen has a negative effect on the explosion pressure of methane-hydrogen mixture at adiabatic condition. While in the vented explosion, the addition of the hydrogen has a significant positive effect on the explosion hazard degree. Additionally, the addition of hydrogen can induce a faster reactivity and enhance the sensitivity of the mixture by reducing the explosion time and increasing the rate of pressure rise both in confined and vented explosion. Both the maximum pressure and the maximum rate of pressure rise increase with initial pressure as a linear function, and also rise with the increase of hydrogen content in fuel. The increase in the maximum rate of pressure rise is slight when hydrogen ratio is lower than 0.5, however, it become significant when hydrogen ratio is higher than 0.5. The maximum rate of pressure rise for stoichiometric hydrogen-air is about 10 times the one of stoichiometric methane-air.Furthermore, the vent plays an important role to relief pressure, causing the decrease in explosion pressure and rate of pressure rise, while it can greatly enhance the flame speed, which will extend the hazard range and induce secondary fire damages. Additionally it appears that the addition of hydrogen has a significant increasing effect on the flame speed. The propagation of flame speed in confined explosion can be divided into two stages, increase stage and decrease stage, higher hydrogen content, higher slope. But in the vented explosion, the flame speed keeps increasing with the distance from the ignition point.