Dust explosions in totally enclosed interconnected vessel systems

Dust explosions–Cases, causes, consequences, and control

“…Of course, as observed by Lunn et al [81] and others [2,12] the explosive atmosphere in one vessel does not necessarily ignite the dust in the second vessel. It has been found experimentally that the likelihood of ignition breakthrough to the second vessel is a function of the dust properties, the dust concentration, the type of venting of the second vessel, the ducts diameters, the severity of the primary explosions and the presence of any obstructions in the connecting duct [82].…”

“…Transmission of dust explosions between vessels did not always occur; the narrower the connecting pipe, the lower the probability of a secondary explosion. No transmission of explosion occurred during the experiments of Lunn et al [81] with a pipe diameter of 0.15 m.…”

“…Lunn et al [81] produced explosions in coal dust and toner dust in a number of linked systems using vessels ranging in size from 2 to 20 m 3 and connected by 5 cm long pipes with diameters of 0.15 m, 0.25 m, and 0.5 m. They record that the degree of pressure-piling resulting from dust explosions in linked vessels depends on the ratio of the vessel volumes and the diameter of the connecting pipe. Generally an explosion which initiated in a larger vessel and traveled to a smaller one led to very high explosion pressures.…”

“…As a result, high combustion rates are obtained at high pressures, even if the second vessel is vented and the amount of dust it contains does not present much danger in itself [11]. If we go by the analogy of the behavior of gas explosions in interconnected enclosed vessels, which has been studied extensively [8,81], 'pressure-piling' is likely to occur as secondary and higher order explosions are caused by the primary explosion propagating through interconnected vessels and pipes. The turbulence generated as the first explosion passes through an interconnected pipe into another vessel increases the rate of the dust combustion, hence the rate of pressure rise.…”

An investigation of the consequences of primary dust explosions in interconnected vessels

“…A probable reason is the difficulty and high costs of such experiments. Some are: [2,[4][5][6][7][8].…”