Buoyant flames in near the lower flammability limit hydrogen-air mixtures

• Published in: Journal of physics. Conference series Vol. 1787; no. 1; pp. 12018 - 12025
• Main Authors: Gavrikov, A I, Golub, V V, Volodin, V V, Mikushkin, A Yu, Danilin, A V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.02.2021
• Subjects: Flammability; Flammability limits; Hydrogen; Industrial safety; Nuclear power plants; Nuclear safety; Numerical analysis; Physics; Polyethylene films; Propagation; Simulation
• ISSN: 1742-6588; 1742-6596
• DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/1787/1/012018

The paper presents the results of large-scale experimental and simulation study of the propagation of premixed near the lower flammability limit hydrogen-air spherical flame. Experiments were carried out in a cylindrical volume of 4.5 m3 covered with thin polyethylene film. The effect of buoyancy and stability of the flame ball in the unconfined volume are studied experimentally and numerically. Numerical analysis of the problem shows that the flame ball becomes unstable after some period of stable propagation that qualitatively corresponds with experimental results. The effect of chemistry in a flame ball propagation process is studied numerically. A comparison of experimental results and numerical simulations are presented. A comparison of numerical simulations with and without chemistry is shown. The subject and results of the study are of critical importance for the industrial explosion safety and hydrogen safety of nuclear power plants.