Experimental study on explosion suppression of vacuum chambers with different scales

Abstract

To understand the suppression effect of vacuum chamber scales on gas explosion in a tunnel, we compared the gas explosion flame and pressure propagation in a tunnel with the vacuum chambers of different cross sections and lengths. The suppression effects of vacuum chambers on gas explosion were assessed by the flame propagation distance, the flame propagation velocity, and the overpressure-impulse rule (P-I rule). The results indicate that 1) the vacuum chamber can absorb the explosion wave and explosion energy as much as possible at the beginning of the gas explosion; 2) for the vacuum chambers with the same cross section and at a certain range of lengths, the suppression effects are enhanced with the chamber length increasing; however, over the range of the vacuum chamber length, the suppression effects will not be improved any more by increasing the vacuum chamber length; and 3) the vacuum chambers with larger cross sections are of more effective flame quenching and explosion suppressing.