Determination of the explosion characteristics of methanol – Air mixture in a constant volume vessel

Abstract

Methanol is now an important alternative fuel. A new multizones model was implemented to experimentally determine the fundamental explosion characteristics of method-air mixtures using a closed vessel. Experiments of the methanol-air mixtures at different initial conditions of temperature, pressures and equivalence were undertaken in a closed spherical vessel with central ignition. Firstly, methodology to determine the key explosion characteristics by integrating the experiments and multizones model is presented. Maximum explosion pressures as a function of equivalence ratio at different initial pressure and temperatures were measured and presented. A linear relationship between the maximum explosion pressure and initial pressure was found to exist. The maximum rate of pressure rise (dPmax/dt) and explosion or deflagration index (KG) were found to increase with increase in the initial pressures but decreased with increase in initial temperature. The 10% explosion delay time (ED10%) was found to increase with increasing maximum explosion pressures. The laminar burning velocity (Su) was found to have a linear relationship with maximum explosion pressure, dPmax/dt and KG. Onset of cellularity was found to significantly affect the rate of pressure rise, maximum rate of pressure rise and burning velocity of methanol-air mixtures.