Influence of Chamber Geometrical Parameters on Suppressing Explosion Propagation

Zhuo Yan,Chaomin Mu,Shengli Guo,Shujie Yuan,Zhigang Tao

doi:10.1155/2021/6377887

Abstract

In this article, the effect of a chamber’s geometrical parameters on suppressing gas explosion propagation was studied. Three rectangular chambers were used in the study, with a constant length of 0.5 m, a constant height of 0.2 m, and a variable width of 0.3 m, 0.5 m, and 0.8 m; each chamber was installed in a pipeline system for experimental research. The experimental results showed that when the chamber length and height were fixed at 0.5 m and 0.2 m, respectively, the suppression effect of the chamber on the explosion shockwave improves with the increase in the chamber width; when the chamber width increases to 0.8 m, the chamber has suppressive effect on explosion shockwave propagation. It was also found that the suppression effect of the chambers on the explosion flame improves with the increase in the chamber width; when the width of the chamber is 0.5 m, the chamber effectively suppresses explosion flames. Based on the experimental results, a numerical model was established to simulate the suppression effect of five types of chambers with a length, width, and height of 0.5 m × 0.3 m × 0.2 m, 0.3 m × 0.5 m × 0.2 m, 0.5 m × 0.5 m × 0.2 m, 0.5 m × 0.8 m × 0.2 m, and 0.8 m × 0.5 m × 0.2 m, respectively. The numerical simulation results indicated that when the chamber length and height are constant at 0.5 m and 0.2 m, respectively, the suppressive effect of the chamber on the shockwave improves as the chamber width increases; when the chamber width increases to 0.8 m, the shockwave overpressure at the chamber outlet is attenuated by 10.61%, indicating that the chamber suppresses the propagation of explosion shockwave, which is consistent with the experimental results obtained in the study. It was also found that when the chamber width and height were constant at 0.5 m and 0.2 m, respectively, as the chamber length increases, the overpressure increases first and then weakens. When the chamber length increases to 0.8 m, the overpressure at the chamber outlet is attenuated by −14.16%, indicating that the chamber is not able to suppress the propagation of explosion shockwave. Finally, a numerical simulation of the propagation process of a methane-air mixture and explosion flames in different chambers was performed to analyse the effect of chamber geometrical parameters on explosion suppression effect.

Highlights

When gas explosions occur in coal mine tunnels and urban underground pipeline systems, a strong ultrahigh temperature flame and an enormous shockwave overpressure are generated instantaneously, which rapidly propagate through the confined space of the tunnel or pipeline system, destroying surrounding facilities, causing a large number of casualties and property losses, and having a highly detrimental social and economic impact [1]. e development of explosion and flame suppression technology is important for the prevention and control of gas explosion accidents in mining tunnels and underground urban pipeline systems
On the contrary, when the chamber volume is smaller than the critical volume, does the vacuum chamber have no effect in suppressing gas explosion and the shockwave overpressure and flame intensity are stronger than when no vacuum chamber is used
Li et al [19] used rectangular chambers of different sizes installed on a 36 mlong large-scale pipeline system for gas explosion experiment to conduct an experimental research, and they found that the chamber attached to the pipeline system has effect on shockwave suppression

Summary

Introduction

When gas explosions occur in coal mine tunnels and urban underground pipeline systems, a strong ultrahigh temperature flame and an enormous shockwave overpressure are generated instantaneously, which rapidly propagate through the confined space of the tunnel or pipeline system, destroying surrounding facilities, causing a large number of casualties and property losses, and having a highly detrimental social and economic impact [1]. e development of explosion and flame suppression technology is important for the prevention and control of gas explosion accidents in mining tunnels and underground urban pipeline systems. E development of explosion and flame suppression technology is important for the prevention and control of gas explosion accidents in mining tunnels and underground urban pipeline systems. To this end, much theoretical research and experimental investigations have been conducted in this field both at home and abroad; for example, omas, Pawel Kosinski, Mikhail Krasnyansky, Hermanns, Lu Shouxiang, Bi Mingshu, Yu Minggao, Xu Hongli, Wang Xishi, Wen Hu, Luo Zhenmin et al [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12] have conducted successful studies on gas explosion suppression using water mist, powder inhibitors, and. We conducted a series of experiments and numerical simulations under the following two sets of conditions: (1) with the chamber height and length fixed and with variable width, and (2) with the chamber height and width fixed and with variable length, in order to better understand the effect of the geometric parameters of different rectangular chambers on the propagation of explosion shockwave and to analyse the effect of the geometric parameters of chambers on their effectiveness in gas explosion suppression

Experimental Study on the Explosion Suppression Effect of Chambers

Experimental Results and Analysis

Conclusions