Investigation on the Explosion Characteristics of an Aluminum Dust–Diethyl Ether–Air Mixture

Abstract

In this work, the explosion characteristics of an aluminum (Al)–diethyl ether (DEE)–air mixture were investigated in a 20 L spherical vessel. The effect factors of the explosion characteristics considered were fuel concentration, component proportion, and ignition energy. With the increasing concentration of the mixed fuel (Al/DEE = 1:1), the maximum pressure (P max), the maximum rate of pressure rise ((dP/dt)max), and the flame propagation speed (νF) exhibit an inversely “U-shaped” curve. The maximum P max, (dP/dt)max, and νF values are 901.2 kPa, 148.3 MPa/s, and 15.3 m/s, respectively, corresponding to an optimum concentration of 600 g/m3. The P max, the (dP/dt)max, and the νF increase with the addition of DEE when the proportion of DEE is below 55% but have a decrease tendency when the proportion of DEE is over 55%. As the explosions of Al and DEE were mutually promoting, the studied explosion characteristics of the Al–DEE–air mixture are obviously higher than those of pure Al or DEE in air. The minimum ignition energy (MIE) of the Al–DEE–air mixture is 1.9 mJ, between the MIE of Al and DEE. With the increase of ignition energy, P max, (dP/dt)max, and νF all increase, while the minimum explosion concentration presents a linear decreasing trend. This work could provide significant scientific evidence for evaluating the explosion risk of the Al–DEE–air mixture.

Study on the Influence of Vent Shape and Blockage Ratio on the Premixed Gas Explosion in the Chamber with a Small Aspect Ratio

“…In the early stages of the explosion, with the combustion reaction, the combustion exotherm made gas expansion, the pressure inside the chamber gradually increased and for the first time reached the peak P b ; the explosion venting membrane was subjected to the limit state rupture, heating, and mixed gas exhaustion, so that the pressure inside the chamber was rapidly reduced. When the vent was opened, the pressure shock rose due to the change of the flow field in the chamber, causing the occurrence of Helmholtz shock; , part of the premixed natural gas inside the chamber leaks out from the broken membrane under the action of pressure outflow, and the gas cloud formed outside was ignited, , causing a secondary explosion, resulting in a dramatic change of the pressure inside the chamber and the formation of the characteristic pressure peak P ext . With further time, when the explosion flame propagated to the walls of the chamber, the pressure continued to increase to reach a peak, which in turn formed a pressure peak P mfa .…”

Explosion Performance of Al Powder–Liquid Fuel Mixtures under Different Ambient Conditions

“…For Al powder–liquid fuel mixtures, Liu et al 14 studied the lower flammability limit (LFL) of Al powder–volatile liquid fuel mixtures in air. Yao et al 15 studied the effect of concentration, component proportion, and ignition energy on the explosion performance of the aluminum dust–diethyl ether–air mixture.…”