Risk Assessment of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Explosion in a Limited Space.

Abstract

In recent years, the explosion accidents of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) have induced tremendous losses. To analyze the deflagration danger of LPG, the explosion pressure and flame propagation features of the premixed LPG–air mixture in a closed pipeline at increased initial pressures and temperatures were examined by the numerical method. It has been shown that with an increase in the initial temperature, the highest explosion pressure and explosion induction period decrease, while the maximum flame temperature increases. As the initial temperature rises, the formation of the tulip flame accelerates, and the depression of the flame front increases at the same time. The elevated initial pressure raises the highest explosion pressure and the maximum flame temperature. Nevertheless, when the initial pressure exceeds 0.5 MPa, its impact on the flame temperature slowly diminishes. In addition, the gray relational analysis approach was utilized to evaluate the correlation between the initial condition and the derived parameters. The findings indicate that the initial pressure exerts the largest influence on the four explosion parameters. The research finding is important for exposing the deflagration risk features of LPG under complicated working situations, evaluating the explosion risk of correlated procedures and devices, and formulating scientific and effective explosion-proof measures.