Abstract
The influence of large-scale congestion on a confined natural gas explosion in a typical Chinese kitchen was studied using the computational fluid dynamics technology. It was found that opening the explosion venting surface promotes the development of turbulence, flame propagation velocity, and multipeak overpressure in the explosion flow field. Large-scale congestion can significantly strengthen the influence of the explosion venting surface on the flow field; the congestion and the explosion venting surface have a synergistic effect on the explosion flow field. At the moment of gas explosion, the flow fields in each area of the kitchen exhibit different distribution characteristics. A flow field near small-scale congestion is more likely to produce greater turbulence, combustion rate, and flame speed. The obstruction effect of large-scale congestion perpendicular to the flame propagation direction is dominant. The indoor flame propagation speed and overpressure development speed increase and the peak combustion rate and indoor peak overpressure decrease with an increase in obstacle blockage. Increases in the large-scale volume congestion rate and volume blockage in the kitchen induce changes in the indoor flame propagation mode and increase the external explosion overpressure. This paper investigated the correlation behavior between large-scale congestion and vent surface in a typical Chinese civil kitchen during natural gas explosion process and provided important support for understanding the mechanism of congestion on gas explosion process and the distribution of explosion hazards in a kitchen.
Highlights
As high-quality green energy, natural gas is widely used in industrial production of raw materials and for cooking and heating
Vented explosions induced by kitchen doors and windows, coupled with the turbulence of indoor cupboards, cabinets, stoves, and other items causing congestion, promote the development of indoor explosion flow fields and explosion hazards, increasing the complexity of the vented explosion process
To theoretically explore the effect of congestion on the acceleration mechanism of gas explosion flames and the influence of explosion hazards, researchers have studied the influence of regularly arranged slender congestion objects with different obstacle blockages on vented explosions
Summary
As high-quality green energy, natural gas is widely used in industrial production of raw materials and for cooking and heating. Peter et al [2] used numerical methods to study the effect of a fixed arrangement of vertical cylinders (with an outer diameter of 2 in, which is 0.0508 m) on the vented explosion process of propane gas and found that the indoor peak overpressure increased with an increase. Based on the study of the explosive flow field in a residential kitchen by Yang et al [19], this study uses computational fluid dynamics technology to further investigate the correlation between large-scale congestion and vent surfaces in typical Chinese kitchens during a natural gas explosion and determine the influence of volume blockage on indoor flow field parameters
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