Release of overpressures in computational simulations of air-methane explosions

Abstract

Research in the field of gas explosions has had and continues to have, as its main support, physical experiments performed on various scale models, the construction of real size models are often large consuming materials, time and labor. The rapid development of computing techniques has allowed among other things, the transfer of gas explosions research in the virtual space, for the validation of computational simulations of this type being still considered physical experiments and specialty literature. Within NIRD INSEMEX Petrosani, being an accredited institute in the elaboration of technical reports for gas explosion type events, the phenomenon of rapid combustion virtualization increased in time and as a result, computational simulations becoming an efficient tools in explaining the mechanisms of explosion production. Nevertheless, one of the problems raised by this virtualization process is the limitation of performing computational simulations in closed or partially closed spaces, initial conditions imposed, without the possibility of dynamic modification of these conditions according to the development of overpressures generated by the virtual explosion. This paper presents a computational experiment in which it was possible to transform the boundary conditions at predefined pressure thresholds, from rigid surfaces into surfaces capable of releasing the overpressures developed in closed / partially closed spaces, putting the results of this kind of simulations in line with real dynamic effects of gas explosion events.