Experimental study of vented hydrogen deflagration with ignition inside and outside the vented volume

Abstract

Experiments were carried out inside a 25 m3 vented combustion test facility (CVE) with a fixed vent area sealed by a plastic sheet vent. Inside the CVE, a 0.64 m3 open vent box, called RED-CVE was placed. The vent of the RED-CVE was left open and three different vent area were tested. Two different mixing fans, one for each compartment, were used to establish homogeneous H2 concentrations. This study examined H2 concentrations in the range between 8.5% vol. to 12.5% vol. and three different ignition locations, (1) far vent ignition, (2) inside the RED-CVE box ignition and (3) near vent ignition (the vent refers to the CVE vent). Peak overpressures generated inside the test facility and the smaller compartment were measured. The results indicate that the near vent ignition generates negligible peak overpressures inside the test facility as compared to those originated by far vent ignition and ignition inside the RED-CVE box. The experiments with far vent ignition showed a pressure increase with increasing hydrogen concentration which reached a peak value at 11% vol. concentration and then decreased showing a non-monotonic behaviour. The overpressure measured inside the RED-CVE was higher when the ignition was outside the box whereas the flame entered the box through the small vent.