Loughborough University
Browse
Brandon_on_the_mechanism.pdf (4.47 MB)

On the mechanism of pressure rise in vented explosions: A numerical study

Download (4.47 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2018-06-18, 12:59 authored by Ruipengyu Li, Weeratunge MalalasekeraWeeratunge Malalasekera, Salah Ibrahim, Bo Liu
Accidental gas explosions are a significant concern in process industries. In an explosion event, the promotion of flame acceleration due to turbulence generated from obstacles is responsible for many severe damages. This paper discusses the numerical evaluation and the mechanism of pressure rise in vented explosions in the presence of obstructions using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The large eddy simulation (LES) technique is employed with a dynamic flame surface density (DFSD) in the combustion model to account for the filtered chemical source term. The experimental test case considered for the validation of simulations is a small-scale explosion chamber with removable baffle plates and obstacles. It is found that the maximum overpressure increases with the baffle plates moved downstream from the ignition source or when additional baffles are placed in sequence. Large separation between baffles and the central obstacle results in lower overpressure due to the relaminarisation of the flame front. The trend of explosion overpressure is related to the competition between the strength of venting and expansion in the explosion chamber. Extensive interactions between the flame and the obstruction-generated turbulence are found to wrinkle the flame front and increase the burning rate. Satisfactory agreements have been obtained between LES and the experimental data. This confirms the capability of the developed model in predicting essential safety-related parameters in vented explosions. Results reveal the potential of using LES in the selection of design aspects for loss prevention, such as the area of vents and distance between congested regions in chemical processing plants.

History

School

  • Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Published in

Process Safety and Environmental Protection

Volume

117

Pages

551 - 564

Citation

LI, R. ... et al, 2018. On the mechanism of pressure rise in vented explosions: A numerical study. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 117, pp.551-564.

Publisher

Elsevier © Institution of Chemical Engineers

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Acceptance date

2018-05-25

Publication date

2018-05-31

Notes

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Process Safety and Environmental Protection and the definitive published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2018.05.026

ISSN

0957-5820

Language

  • en

Usage metrics

    Loughborough Publications

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC