• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.3286-3297
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• 2021

The released hydrogen can be ignited even with weak ignition sources. This emphasizes the importance of the hydrogen flammability evaluation to prevent catastrophic failure in hydrogen related facilities including a nuclear power plant. Historically numerous attempts have been made to determine the flammability limit of hydrogen mixtures including several diluents. However, no analytical model has been developed to accurately predict the limit concentration for mixtures containing radiating gases. In this study, the effect of H₂O and CO₂ on flammability limit was investigated through a numerical simulation of lean limit hydrogen flames. The previous flammability limit model was improved based on the mechanistic investigation, with which the amount of indirect radiation heat loss could be estimated by the optically thin approximation. As a result, the sharp increase in limit concentration by H₂O could be explained by high thermal diffusivity and radiation rate. Despite the high radiation rate, however, CO₂ with the lower thermal diffusivity than the threshold cannot produce a noticeable increase in heat loss and ultimately limit concentration. We concluded that the proposed mechanistic analysis successfully explained the experimental results even including radiating gases. The accuracy of the improved model was verified through several flammability experiments for H₂-air-diluent.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.83-88
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• 1994

The change of flammability limit of n-heptane by the addition of halogenated hydrocarbon was studied. Experimental results showed that halogenated hydrocarbon has a combustion suppression effect and the heat capacity was a Important factor on the flammability limit. The combustion suppression effect of halogenated hydrocarbon was lower than halon, but higher than nitrogen, and the order of effect was $C_3$C1$_3$F$_3$> $C_2$HC1$_2$F$_3$> $C_2$H$_2$F$_4$.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.7
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• pp.1749-1757
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• 2019

Predicting lower flammability limits (LFL) of hydrogen has become an ever-important task for safety of nuclear industry. While numerous experimental studies have been conducted, LFL results applicable for the harsh environment are still lack of information. Our aim is to develop a calculated non-adiabatic flame temperature (CNAFT) model to better predict LFL of hydrogen mixtures in nuclear power plant. The developed model is unique for incorporating radiative heat loss during flame propagation using the CNAFT coefficient derived through previous studies of flame propagation. Our new model is more consistent with the experimental results for various mixtures compared to the previous model, which relied on calculated adiabatic flame temperature (CAFT) to predict the LFL without any consideration of heat loss. Limitation of the previous model could be explained clearly based on the CNAFT coefficient magnitude. The prediction accuracy for hydrogen mixtures at elevated initial temperatures and high helium content was improved substantially. The model reliability was confirmed for $H_2-air$ mixtures up to $300^{\circ}C$ and $H_2-air-He$ mixtures up to 50 vol % helium concentration. Therefore, the CNAFT model developed based on radiation heat loss is expected as the practical method for predicting LFL in hydrogen risk analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.71-77
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• 2000

The aim of this study is to investigate the temperature dependence of the lower explosive limit(LEL) at elevated temperature. The temperature dependence of the lower explosive limit is one of the significant indices of flammability and combustibility. By using the literature data, the new equations for predicting the temperature dependence of the lower explosive limits for paraffinic hydrocarbons are proposed. The values calculated by the proposed equations were a good agreement with the literature data. It is hoped eventually that this proposed equations will support the use of the prediction for the lower explosive limit and the flash points of the flammable mixtures.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.16-23
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• 2012

This study has been conducted to scrutinize agitation effects of an ultrasonic standing wave on the dynamic behavior of methane/air premixed flame. The propagating flame was caught by high-speed Schlieren images, through which local flame velocities of the moving front were analyzed in unprecedent detail. It is revealed that the propagation velocity agitated by the ultrasonic standing wave is greater than that without agitation at the stoichiometric ratio: the velocity enhancement diminishes as the equivalence ratio approaches upper flammability limit or lower flammability limit. Also, vertical locations of the wave-affected frontal distortions do not vary appreciably, unless the propagating-mode characteristics (pressure amplitude and driving frequency) of ultrasonic standing wave were not changed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.385-393
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• 2022

Hydrogen has reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the main cause of global warming, and is emerging as an eco-friendly energy source for ships. Hydrogen is a substance with a lower flammability limit (LFL) of 4 to 75% and a high risk of explosion. To be used for ships, it must be sufficiently safe against leaks. In this study, we analyzed the effect of changes in the area of the air inlet / vent port on the ventilation performance when hydrogen leaks occur in the hydrogen tank storage room. The area of the air inlet / vent port is 1A = 740 mm × 740 mm, and the size and position can be easily changed on the surface of the storage chamber. Using ANSYS CFX ver 18.1, which is a CFD commercial software, the area of the air inlet / vent port was changed to 1A, 2A, 3A, and 5A, and the hydrogen mole fraction in the storage chamber when the area changed was analyzed. Consequently, the increase in the area of the air inlet port further reduced the concentration of the leaked hydrogen as compared with that of the vent port, and improved the ventilation performance of at least 2A or more from the single air inlet port. As the area of the air inlet port increased, hydrogen was uniformly stratified at the upper part of the storage chamber, but was out of the LFL range. However, simply increasing the area of the vent port inadequately affected the ventilation performance.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.41-46
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• 2012

The flash point the lowest temperature at which the concentration of vapor of the substance in the air reaches the lower flammability limit(LFL), and is one of the most important physical properties used to determine the potential for fire and explosion hazards of industrial materials. The most published flash point data was for pure components and the flash points of the binary solutions that have flammable components, appear to be scarce in the literature. In the present study, the flash points of tert-pentanol+n-decane system were measured by Tag open-cup tester. The measured data were compared with the values calculated by the Raoult's law and the optimization methods based on the Wilson and NRTL equations. The calculated values by optimization methods were found to be better than those based on the Raoult's law.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.19-24
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• 2002

Recent studies of a triple flame suggested that the presence of triple point (triple line in this planar configuration) could explain the mechanisms of stable fuel-lean premixed flames with equivalence ratio lower than the flammability limit. In the present study, for better understanding of the stability mechanisms of fuel rich-lean premixed flames, the fuel-rich flames were replaced with hot coils that will provide heat flux into the fuel-lean flames. It is found that the fuel-lean premixed flames could be stabilized without any triple point (triple line): however, the equivalence ratio limit for stable fuel-lean flame in this case is higher than that of the present work with the presence of fuel-rich flames. These results demonstrate that heat flux coming from fuel-rich flames should be considered in order to properly understand the roll of a triple flame for stable fuel rich-lean flames.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.348-354
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• 2004

Hydrogen gas has several merits such as lower ignition energy, wide flammability and shorter quenching distance. It leads to high thermal efficiency but backfire occurrence. In this study, feasibility of expansion of BFL(Back-Fire Limit) equivalence ratio and combustion characteristics by a dilution of hydrogen fuel are experimently examined by using experimental heavy duty single cylinder hydrogen fueled engine. As results, it is found that BFL equivalence ratio is expanded to rich range and torque is increased.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.10 no.1 s.30
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• pp.19-25
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• 2006

Explosion limit is one of the major physical properties used to determine the fire and explosion hazards of the flammable substances. Explosion limits are used to classify flammable materials according to their relative flammability. Such a classification is important for the safe handling, storage, transportation of flammable substances. In this study, the lower explosion limits(LEL) of the flammable mixtures predicted with the appropriate use of the vapor composition and the heat of combustion of the individual components which constitute mixture. The values calculated by the proposed equations were a good agreement with literature data within a few percent. From a given results, It is to be hoped that this methodology will contribute to the estimation of the explosive properties of flammable mixtures with improved accuracy and the broader application for other flammable substances.