Journal of the Korean Society of Safety (한국안전학회지)

The Korean Society of Safety (한국안전학회)
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Experimental and Analytical Study on Hydrogen-air Deflagrations in Open Atmosphere

개방 공간에서 발생하는 수소-공기 혼합 가스 폭연에 대한 실험적/해석적 연구

  • Kim, Yangkyun (Fire Research Institute, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology) ;
  • Park, Byoung Jik (Fire Research Institute, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology)
  • 김양균 (한국건설기술연구원 화재안전연구소) ;
  • 박병직 (한국건설기술연구원 화재안전연구소)
  • Received : 2021.01.15
  • Accepted : 2021.02.02
  • Published : 2021.02.28
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Abstract

Experimental and analytical investigations are performed to explore the explosion characteristics of a hydrogen-air mixture in open atmosphere. A hydrogen-air mixture tent of total volume of 27 m3, with 40% hydrogen volume, is used to observe overpressure at a distance from the ignition source. Vapor cloud explosion analyses are performed using the TNO multi-energy model and Baker-Strehlow-Tang model. The results of these analyses are compared with experiment done from this study and references. The experimental results with and without obstacles indicate that the overpressure values measured at a distance of 4.5-21.5 m from the ignition source are about 9.4-3.6 kPa and 6.5-2 kPa, respectively. This implies that the overpressure with obstacles is approximately 1.7 times greater than that without obstacles. Analytical observation indicates that the results obtained with the Baker-Strehlow-Tang model with Mf = 0.2-0.35 are in good agreement with those of most of the previous studies, including that obtained from this study. Moreover, the TNO multi-energy model with a volume of 27 m3 well predicts the overpressure obtained from this study. Further studies should considered explosions in semi-confined spaces, which is more suitable for hydrogen refueling stations.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was funded by the Fire Safety Agency's ESS Hydrogen Facility Fire Safety Technology Research and Development Project(No. 20011579). We are grateful to those who helped to conduct the experiment at the Korea Ship and Offshore Research Institute in Pusan National University.

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