Gas explosion venting of 20-litre vessel with and without various length of vent ducts

Abstract

When gas explosion occurs in closed vessel, venting devices can reduce the pressure inside the protected equipment, and vent ducts can be used to direct burnt and unburnt mixtures. In this paper, some ductless and duct vented explosion measurements were performed in a standard 20-liter explosion chamber with 2.8 to 6.3 vol.% propane-air mixture at atmospheric pressure (1 bar_g) and ambient temperature (298 K). Experimental investigations were performed with different lengths of vent duct (0 meter, 0.15 meter, 1 meter). During the measurements, effects of vent ducts to the venting process had been studied. Aluminium foils were used as rupture disks with 30 mm diameter circular venting area. During each measurement, static activation overpressure of aluminium foil, maximum explosion overpressure of propane-air mixture, the gas deflagration index in case of the vented vessel, and the pressure drop along the 1 meter length duct were determined.