Numerical simulation of the influence of vent conditions on the characteristics of hydrogen explosion in confined space

Abstract

To reduce the injury caused by hydrogen explosion accident, numerical simulation study is carried out to study the characteristics of hydrogen explosion in confined space under different venting conditions. The results show that in the process of the flame passing through the side vent, the position of the side vent can affect the leading role of the side venting on the flame front distortion. When the flame front is in front of the side vent, the flame is accelerated by the traction of co-flow. When the flame front passes through the side vent, the flame propagation speed under various working conditions is greatly reduced due to the combined action of reflected wave and vertical flow field. When the front of the flame is located behind the side vent, the flame propagation speed fluctuates greatly only when the side vent is 1 m away from the ignition end, and the flame propagation to the end of the pipe is kept at a low speed in other venting conditions. The pressure relief effect of the side vent is positively related to the size of the side vent. When the side vent is located in the middle of the pipe, the pressure relief effect is the best. When the size of the vent is small, the pressure relief effect is greatly affected by the location of the vent. The peak overpressure in h-1-40, h-3-40, h-5-40 decreases by 49.21%, 83.89%% and 78.03%, respectively. With the increase of the size of the side vent, the pressure relief effect of the side vent is almost not affected by its size. The peak overpressure in H-1-80, H-3-80, H-5-80 only decreases by 90.17%, 94.99% and 92.78%, respectively.

Keywords:

• hydrogen explosion
• side venting
• flame structure
• flow field characteristics
• explosion overpressure

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by National Key R&D Program of China [grant number 2017YFC0805100]; Special Funding Project of Basic Scientific Research Business Fee of China Academy of Safety Production [grant number 2019JBKY08]; The Natural Science Research Project of Higher Education Institutions of Jiangsu Province [grant number 20KJB620004]; Major Projects supported by the Natural Science Research of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions [grant numbers 16KJA170004, 17KJA440001]; Innovative Talents Team Project of “Six Talent Peak” of Jiangsu Province [grant number TD-JNHB-013].