Investigation on the Overpressure Produced by High-Speed Methane Gas Deflagrations in Confined Spaces

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bogin G ; Brune, Jürgen F. ; Fig M ; Pardonner D ; Strebinger C ; Treffner B
• Description:
  Methane gas explosions in a longwall coal mine can originate from in or around the gob and can seriously harm nearby workers and equipment. In order to fully understand the explosion flame and pressure wave propagation in the mine, it is important to investigate methane flame propagation in confined spaces as well as flame interaction with rock rubble and other mine structures. The latter can lead to enhanced turbulence causing high-speed deflagrations and/or detonations. Researchers ignited methane-air mixtures in horizontal, cylindrical reactors that contained inserts to simulate various gob characteristics. Rock surface topology and ignition location were investigated. Results show rock surface roughness increased fluid motion, thereby increasing methane flame front propagation velocity, overall pressure rise of the explosion, and time of pressure decay. Moving the point of ignition away from the open end of the reactor resulted in an increase in peak overpressure and an overall pressure rise of the explosion. Experiments were used to validate a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) combustion model that will be incorporated into a mine-scale explosion model to simulate and predict explosion hazards of large scale methane gas deflagrations in longwall coal mines. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Confined Spaces Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Coal Mines Confined Spaces Explosive Gases Gas Flow Longwall Mining Methane Control
• Publisher:
  Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; Florida ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20068868
• Citation:
  2018 SME Annual Meeting, February 25-28, 2018, Minneapolis, Minnesota, preprint 18-066. Englewood, CO: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., 2018 Feb; :1-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• Performing Organization:
  Tustees of the Colorado School of Mines
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20140901
• Source Full Name:
  2018 SME Annual Meeting, February 25-28, 2018, Minneapolis, Minnesota, preprint 18-066
• End Date:
  20190831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fddb1b24a03573b53d51123253031ab444a4522eb1a743eddc52b2174c1d63d270e234840aab14b4abb6e59b4263af023f4ee10bf8261f3a44f4a7d72c82de56
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/207435/cdc_207435_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 608.91 KB ]