TY - THES A1 - Scharff, Erik T1 - Untersuchungen zur Ausbreitung brennbarer Schwergase in längsdurchströmten Straßentunneln N2 - In combination with new types of drive technologies, more and more flammable gases could be introduced into the traffic area “road tunnel” in future. If these vehicles have an accident and the gases are subsequently released, there is the possibility that the mentioned substances show a heavy gas behavior due to their storage conditions. From a safety point of view, this scenario has to be assessed with regard to its effects on the tunnel structure and the people involved. The aim of the experimental investigations carried out in this work is to create the basis for such an analysis by investigating the spreading behavior of the gases after they have been released in the tunnel and determining the influence of individual geometric and operational parameters on this behavior. Specifically, this work is based on the scenario of a continuous, momentum-free release of propane within a vaulted road tunnel with active longitudinal ventilation. The tunnel-specific boundary conditions that are relevant to this scenario are first worked out by a theoretical analysis. The basis of the subsequent experimental part is formed by two test rigs built as part of the work, which are similar in their essential features, but differ in scale. In both facilities, the aforementioned release scenario was simulated under various boundary conditions based on an idealized tunnel segment. The dispersion behavior is primarily assessed by the averaged concentration distribution near the ground, which results from a large number of detectors arranged in the experimental area. The detectors operate on the principle of weakening infrared light in the presence of hydrocarbons. Measurements of the flow field properties accompany the concentration measurements. The conception of the test rig on a scale of 1:12 is based on dimensional analysis. The actual release campaign comprises a large number of individual experiments in which selected parameters were varied over the tunnel-relevant range. The predicted heavy gas behavior for propane emerged clearly in the experiments. In cases in which the cloud laterally reaches the tunnel walls, the gases are channeled, which is accompanied by reduced longitudinal dilution. It was possible to identify the release rate and the flow velocity as the factors that have the greatest influence. The former basically increased the concentration, while the latter decreased it. All other tested parameters resulted in more complex propagation situations, which force a differentiated consideration of the influence. Lifting the source from the ground also reduced the concentration. In the case of an eccentrically arranged source and a transverse slope of the roadway, the influence is largely limited to the lateral concentration distribution in the immediate vicinity of the source. Nevertheless, both parameters plus a possible longitudinal slope of the roadway only showed a slight effect on the area far-downstream from the source. In addition, the phenomenon of backlayering, which is known from the spreading of fire smoke in the tunnel, could be demonstrated with a steep longitudinal slope. Obstacles increased the complexity of the situation. While globally the dilution of the cloud is partly invariant to obstacles, locally an increase as well as a decrease in concentration can be observed under certain conditions. For the unobstructed tunnel, it was finally possible to define a dimensionless parameter that describes the curve of the longitudinal dilution on the ground within the heavy gas cloud. From this, a simple graphical nomogram is derived for the continuous release of heavy gases in an unobstructed tunnel environment, which can be used to estimate the concentration in relation of a dimensionless source distance. For exploring the real, undistorted behavior experiments were also carried out in original scale. Due to the similarity of both test rigs in terms of scale, the test results can also be used to check the scalability of the spreading situations. For that, two configurations that have already been examined in small scale were selected. The main limitation for test execution and regarding the scalability comparison was the dependence of the flow conditions within the test rig from external wind conditions which occurred despite of taken countermeasures. The large-scale release was associated with pronounced fog formation. The near-ground spreading corresponding to the heavy gas behavior could be confirmed. However, in detail the spread was far more unsteady. Looking at the time-averaged concentrations, the processes already known from the small-scale test were qualitatively well approximated. Remaining quantitative differences, however, require critical consideration. This discrepancy is more likely a consequence of the experimental compromises have to be made in the specific case. From the observed gas behavior, the development of a surface fire initiated by ignition of the re-leased gases is considered to be the most likely subsequent scenario for the release of heavy, flam-mable gases in tunnel-like enclosures. The thesis concludes with recommendations on the methodological approach to be favored in the future. KW - LNG KW - Schwergas KW - Stoffausbreitung KW - Propan PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:ma9:1-1981185920-1206411 DO - https://doi.org/10.25673/118683 VL - 2025 SP - 1 EP - 225 PB - Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Fakultät für Verfahrens- und Systemtechnik CY - Magdeburg AN - OPUS4-65012 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - THES A1 - Spitzer, Stefan T1 - Influence of the ignition source on the Safety Characteristics of hybrid dust-gas mixtures N2 - Safety characteristics like the lower explosion limit, the highest concentration for a given substance mixed with air that does not result in a self-propagating flame, or the maximum explosion pressure, the highest pressure that can be reached after ignition for a given combustible substance mixed with air at any concentration, are widely used in the industry to either prevent an explosion or to mitigate the effects of it. Safety characteristics are not physical constants, are determined experimentally and depend on the chosen experimental parameters such as the ignition energy or turbulence. For the determination of the safety characteristics lower explosion limit (LEL), limiting oxygen concentration (LOC), maximum explosion pressure (pmax) and maximum rate of pressure rise ((dp/dt)max) of gases and vapors the gas is filled via partial pressures into a test vessel and then ignited under quiescent conditions with a weak (2 J - 20 J) ignition source. For dusts, the same safety characteristics are determined under turbulent conditions to elevate the dust homogeneously and it is ignited with two chemical igniters with an ignition energy of 1000 J each (LEL and LOC) or 5000 J each (pmax and (dp/dt)max). For the determination of safety characteristics of hybrid mixtures (a mixture containing a combustible dust and a flammable gas) there is no existing standard. In the last 40 years most of the research on their safety characteristics was performed with dust testing equipment that was modified for the addition of flammable gas. Because of the different mixing procedures of gases and dusts with air and because of different ignition energies and sources that are normally used for the standard tests of gases or dusts, the results were hardly reproducible. Statements about the different safety characteristics were contradictory and left the reader or the person responsible for designing safety measures for a process plant or a facility behind with no clear suggestion about the behavior of hybrid mixtures. This thesis is aimed on determining the influence of the different ignition sources and energies on the safety characteristics pmax, (dp/dt)max, lower explosion limit, and limiting oxygen concentration of hybrid mixtures. Several test series were conducted to characterize different standardized ignition sources, that are already in use for the determination of safety characteristics of single-phase substances (gases, liquids, dusts). The burning duration, the igniting volume and the net energy were investigated. It was shown, that the chemical igniters and the exploding wire are suitable ignition sources for the determination of safety characteristics of hybrid mixtures in general. Their burning duration was long enough to ignite dusts and quick enough, that the decay of the turbulence or sedimentation of the dusts did not occur. Both ignition sources produced comparable results for the determination of pmax, LEL and (dp/dt)max of dusts when they had the same ignition energy. A reduced ignition energy of the exploding wire and the chemical igniters did not affect the pmax and (dp/dt)max. The LEL changed with lower energies. However, for the determination of the LOC of hybrid mixtures the exploding wires with an overall energy of 2 kJ produced the best results. The influence of the different mixing procedures that have already been used for hybrid mixtures and the requirements for them were also investigated experimentally for the gas concentration and the determined safety characteristics and compared to each other. It was shown, that the partial pressure method works for mixing hybrid mixtures but the pressures should be measured very accurately and the gas concentration should be validated. Furthermore, the influence of the turbulence that is inevitable when testing dusts, on the safety characteristics of gases was determined. It was found that the chemical igniters and exploding wires produced comparable results for the determination of pmax, LEL and (dp/dt)max under turbulence. For the LOC only exploding wires with two times 1 kJ worked. Finally, the safety characteristics of hybrid mixtures were determined with different ignition energies and sources and the data were compared. It was discovered, that the pmax of hybrid mixtures was the same value than the higher determined one of the single substances while (dp/dt)max of hybrid mixtures was about 10 % to 25 % higher than the value of the stoichiometric gas mixture under turbulence. The point was found at the stoichiometric gas concentration with very little amounts of dust. To prove the key findings of this work and for the establishment of a standardized procedure for the determination of safety characteristics of hybrid mixtures, an international round robin test was conducted with eleven participating facilities in seven countries. The results were comparable within a reasonable range and are presented in this dissertation in an extra chapter. Based upon the observations in this work a reliable solution for a new standardizable ignition source to determine the safety characteristics of hybrid dust-gas-mixtures is proposed. KW - Ignition Sources KW - Hybrid Mixtures KW - Explosions PY - 2023 SP - 1 EP - 132 AN - OPUS4-58905 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -