Experimental study on explosion characteristics of ethanol-gasoline blended fuels. (March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Guochun; Wang, Xishi; Zhao, Xiangdi
• Is Part Of: Journal of loss prevention in the process industries. Volume 64(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Subjects: Ethanol-gasoline -- Explosion -- Overpressure -- Flame propagation speed -- Blended ratio; Chemical industries -- Safety measures -- Periodicals; 660.2804
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jlp.2020.104083
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-4230

Abstract

Abstract: In the present work, a series of experiments have been performed to analyze the explosion characteristics of ethanol-gasoline with various blended ratios (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 80%, and 100%). A vented rectangular vessel with a cross-section of 100 mm × 100 mm, 600 mm long and a 40 mm diameter vent on the top is used to carry out the experiments. The flame propagation is recorded by a phantom high-speed camera with 5000 fps, while the histories of the explosion overpressure are measured by two PCB pressure sensors and the explosion sound pressure level is obtained by a CRY sound sensor. The results indicate that the maximum overpressure and flame propagation speed increases linearly as the blended ratio increases when the initial volume of blended fuel is 1.0 mL; While the change of explosion overpressure and flame propagation speed shows a trend of decreasing at first and then increasing as the concentration increases to 1.8 mL. It is also found that the peak of the sound pressure level exceeds 100 dB under all tests, which would damage the human's hearing. What's more, relationships between explosion overpressure and sound pressure level are examined, and the change of the maximum overpressure can be reflected to some extent by the measurement of the maximum sound pressure level. The study is significant to reveal the essential characteristic of the explosion venting process of ethanol-gasoline under different initial blended ratios, and the results would help deepen the understanding of ethanol-gasoline blended fuels explosion and the assessment of the explosion hazardous. Highlights: Effects of initial blend ratio on ethanol-gasoline explosion are investigated. Sound pressure level of ethanol-gasoline explosion is firstly obtained and analyzed. Relationship between explosion overpressure and sound pressure level are analyzed.