The Study of Induced Water Flow Devices in the Suppression of Gas Explosions

• Published in: Process safety and environmental protection Vol. 80; no. 3; pp. 126 - 134
• Main Authors: Ewan, B.C.R., Moatamedi, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.05.2002
• Subjects: mitigation; sgas explosion; suppression; water sprays; suppression; mitigation; water sprays; sgas explosion
• ISSN: 0957-5820; 1744-3598
• DOI: 10.1205/095758202317576229

The effectiveness of gas explosion overpressure mitigation using passive atomization systems is presented, in which droplet generation is induced continuously by the explosion event itself. The systems described rely on the induced water flow from an aerodynamically shaped water container with subsequent cross flow atomization. The transient characteristics of liquids emerging from these containers have been studied using a wind tunnel combined with flash photography and time resolved laser diffraction sizing, and droplet sizes and mass concentrations are shown to be comparable with those required for explosion mitigation. A 5.1 m x 0.3 m x 0.3 m explosion duct has been used to examine the suppression effectiveness of a range of container shapes. For the simplest containers, mean droplet sizes of 21 μm diameter could be produced at incident flame speeds of 170 ms –1, substantially reducing the combustion rate. The practical application of these principles is an explosion suppression system for both offshore and onshore process plant.