Experimental and numerical study on the effect of low vent burst pressure on vented methane-air deflagrations

This paper experimentally investigated the effect of low vent burst pressure on the overpressure buildup and flame evolution during the vented methane-air deflagrations in a 1 m(3) rectangular vessel. CFD software FLACS was assessed in simulation of vented methane-air explosions against the experiment. Experimental results demonstrate that four overpressure peaks of P-open, P-out, P-ext and P-acc from the vent failure, flame venting, external explosion and acoustically enhanced combustion, respectively, were observed except for the free venting case, in which only two overpressure peaks of P-out and P-ext were monitored. The flame behaviors corresponding to different overpressure peaks were monitored especially at Pacc, where an abrupt increase in flame luminosity was observed on the bottom of the vessel due to the combustion of pockets of flammable mixture. P-open and P-acc increase with the vent burst pressure while P-out and P-ext are nearly independent of the vent burst pressure. Double flame accelerations were observed owing to the vent rupture and flame venting. The phenomena of Helmholtz oscillation and the bulk motion of flame bubble always appeared after the vent rupture. The predicted overpressure agrees reasonably well with the experimental data. The discrepancy of the predicted and measured maximum peak overpressures reduces with increasing vent burst pressure. The predicted maximum peak overpressure and external flame length are slightly larger than those in experiment, which would facilitate the safe design in explosion venting and offer a better guidance in risk assessment. The simulation results also show that two overpressure peaks were recorded resulting from the pressure wave propagating above the vessel and the external explosion, respectively. (C) 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study experimentally investigated the effect of low vent burst pressure on methane-air deflagrations in a rectangular vessel, observing four different overpressure peaks and monitoring flame behaviors at each peak. The results showed that vent burst pressure affects P-open and P-acc, while P-out and P-ext are independent of vent burst pressure. Double flame accelerations were observed due to vent rupture and flame venting. Predictions reasonably agreed with experimental data, with discrepancies decreasing as vent burst pressure increased. Predicted maximum peak overpressure and external flame length were slightly larger than experimental values, providing better guidance for safe design and risk assessment in explosion venting.