Numerical study of external explosion characteristics induced by indoor natural gas vented explosion
International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow
ISSN: 0961-5539
Article publication date: 13 May 2021
Issue publication date: 3 January 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the harm to personnel and equipment caused by an external explosion during natural gas explosion venting. The external explosion characteristics induced by the indoor natural gas explosion are the focal points of the investigation.
Design/methodology/approach
Computational fluid dynamics technology was used to investigate the large-scale explosion venting process of natural gas in a 6 × 3 × 2.5 m room, and the characteristics of external explosion under different scaled vent size (Kv = Av/V2/3, 0.05, 0.08, 0.13, 0.18) were numerically analyzed.
Findings
When Kv = 0.08, the length and duration of the explosion fireball are 13.39 and 450 ms, respectively, which significantly expands the degree and range of high-temperature hazards. The suitable flow-field structure causes the external explosion overpressure to be more than twice that indoors, i.e. the natural gas explosion venting overpressure may be considerably more hazardous in an outdoor environment than inside a room. A specific range for the Kv can promote the superposition of outdoor rupture waves and explosion shock waves, thereby creating a new overpressure hazard.
Originality/value
Little attention has been devoted to investigating systematically the external explosion hazards. Based on the numerical simulation and the analysis, the external explosion characteristics induced by the indoor large-scale gas explosion were obtained. The research results are theoretically significant for mitigating the effects of external gas explosions on personnel and equipment.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The research presented in this paper was supported by the Beijing Natural Science Foundation-Municipal Education Committee Joint Funding Project (No. KZ201910017020), the Science and Technology Plan Project of Beijing Education Commission (No. KM202010017008), the Training Funded Project of the Beijing Youth Top-Notch Talents of China (No. 2016000026833ZK05), and the Training Funded Project of the Beijing Young Backbone Talents of China (No. 2018000020124G087). At last, we appreciate Elsevier for providing good English translation service for this paper.
Citation
Pang, L., Hu, Q. and Yang, K. (2022), "Numerical study of external explosion characteristics induced by indoor natural gas vented explosion", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 404-431. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-01-2021-0036
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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