Filtern
Erscheinungsjahr
Dokumenttyp
Referierte Publikation
- ja (24) (entfernen)
Schlagworte
- Selbstentzündung (6)
- Self-ignition (6)
- Combustion (3)
- Numerical simulations (3)
- Bulk materials (2)
- Dust explosions (2)
- Konvektion (2)
- Modellierung (2)
- Numerical modelling (2)
- Smouldering fires (2)
Organisationseinheit der BAM
The current paper presents experimental investigations as well as numerical simulations on the influence of water and humidity on the self-ignition of combustible bulk materials.
It is well known, that bulk materials may undergo self-ignition if stored under specific conditions. In some cases, large amounts of these materials are exposed to a humid surrounding, e.g. dried coal in a moist atmosphere. Due to the effects of condensation and adsorption of water, additional heat is generated and transported into the bulk material. If the pile is stored slightly below its self-ignition temperature, the bulk material can become supercritical and an ignition occurs.
Experiments were carried out for German lignite coal sampled in two different particle size fractions. They showed, that subcritical deposits turned to supercritical behaviour if the relative humidity in the surrounding was suddenly increased or water was poured on the surface of the sample. Besides the experiments, a numerical model was established to describe the effects of self-heating until ignition of the deposit, including the transportation of moisture. Simulations with this model led to satisfying results when compared to the experiments.
The main gaseous products and the mass loss during the self-ignition of combustible materials
(2006)
Einfluss der Konvektion auf das Selbstentzündungs- und Abbrandverhalten von Schüttgütern und Stäuben
(2005)
Selbstentzündung und Brandausbreitung von brennbaren Schüttgütern und Stäuben werden von mehreren Parametern beeinflusst. Verschiedene Einflussgrößen auf die Selbstentzündungstemperatur, wie Materialeigenschaften, Geometrie sowie Feuchtegehalt des Schüttgutes und seiner Umgebung sind bereits früher untersucht worden. Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt experimentelle Ergebnisse zum Einfluss der Konvektion an den Oberflächen von Schüttgutablagerungen auf Selbstentzündung und Brandausbreitung vor. Die Versuche wurden mit Braunkohlenstaub und Korkmehl durchgeführt. Zusätzlich wurde der Einfluss des Neigungswinkels der Schüttung (bei konstantem Volumen-Oberflächenverhältnis) untersucht. Mit Hilfe eines numerischen Modells wurde außerdem ein in der Literatur beschriebener Großversuch an Kohlehalden simuliert und bewertet. Dabei wurde der Selbstentzündungsvorgang, gefolgt von einer Brandausbreitung, berechnet.
Many self-accelerating decomposition temperatures (SADTs) of solid organic peroxides and self-reactive substances have been determined with the UN test method H.4, which is a scaled down test in a small Dewar vessel. For solid organic peroxides and solid self-reactive substances Fierz has questioned this procedure in a recent paper. Fierz concluded that the Dewar test results should not be extrapolated to beyond 8 l packages, owing to the thermal insulation value of solids. On the other hand, long term experience with the test, with a great variety of solid organic peroxides and self-reactive substances show about equal critical temperatures in the small Dewar vessel and on 50 kg scale. In the present work, we first checked, by numerical simulations, the Dewar scale versus the larger scale, in a way comparable with Fierz method: both scales are simulated by spheres, consisting of a number of annular layers, for the large scale the usual external heat loss term is used but for the small scale the outside heat transfer is strongly limited. The outcome of these simulations, covering a variety of physical parameters, supports the concerns expressed by Fierz. After this, we performed accurate cooling and heating experiments with solid organic peroxide in the usual Dewar vessel, provided with a large set of thermocouples. The results of these experiments showed that the simulation model for the Dewar vessel has to be changed from a spherical analogue to a short cylinder of solid material with heat exchange mainly via its top (Utop 3.5 W/(m2 K), overall heat transfer coefficient) and some heat exchange (Uside 0.29 W/(m2 K)) through its cylindrical and bottom part. With this modified cylinder model (being neither an infinitely long cylinder nor a slab) of the Dewar vessel, we found that the UN method H.4 enables an accurate prediction of the SADT, with small deviations of 0 ± 2.5 °C. Further, by performing a truly three-dimensional (3D) finite element calculation in FEMLAB, the new heat characteristics of the Dewar vessel as well as a 50 kg package of dilauroyl peroxide, a solid organic peroxide, were checked. The outcome was compared with the critical ambient temperatures known for various package sizes, which agreed well.
Experiments were performed on the influence of pre-ignition turbulence on the course of vented gas and dust explosions. A vertical cylindrical explosion chamber of approximately 100 l volume and a length-to-diameter ratio (l/d) of 4.7 consisting of a steel bottom segment and three glass sections connected by steel flanges was used to perform the experiments. Sixteen small fans evenly distributed within the chamber produced turbulent fluctuations from 0 to 0.45 m/s. A Laser-Doppler-anemometer (LDA) was used to measure the flow and turbulence fields. During the experiments the pressure and in the case of dust explosions the dust concentration were measured. In addition, the flame propagation was observed by a high-speed video camera. A propane/nitrogen/oxygen mixture was used for the gas explosion experiments, while the dust explosions were produced by a cornstarch/air mixture.
It turned out that the reduced explosion pressure increased with increasing turbulence intensity. This effect was most pronounced for small vents with low activation pressures, e.g. for bursting disks made from polyethylene foil. In this case, the overpressure at an initial turbulence of 0.45 m/s was twice that for zero initial turbulence.
A numerical model is presented which consists of a set of partial differential equations for the transport of heat and mass fractions of eight chemical species to describe the onset of self-ignition and the propagation of smouldering fires in deposits of bulk materials or dust accumulations. The chemical reaction sub-model includes solid fuel decomposition and the combustion of char, carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
The model has been validated against lab-scale self-ignition and smouldering propagation experiments and then applied to predictions of fire scenarios in a lignite coal silo. Predicted reaction temperatures of 550 K and propagation velocities of the smouldering front of about 6 mm/h are in good agreement with experimental values derived from lab-scale experiments.
The exothermic reactions of thermally unstable materials have been studied using self-heating methods in a wire-mesh-reactor as well as temperature-programmed methods utilizing a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). Samples of lignite coal dust, cork dust, detergent powder and riboflavin (vitamin B2) were investigated. The overall activation energy E could be determined for each method. For lignite coal and cork dust all techniques show very nice agreement in E. For the detergent powder, the values are comparable except for the heat-release (HR) rate method value which is about 5060 kJ/mol higher. Riboflavin on the other hand shows a different behaviour. The DSC-experiments lead to values being significantly higher compared to the self-heating values. The existing differences are clearly worked out.