Gexcon to present at the International Symposium on Hazards, Prevention and Mitigation of Industrial Explosions (ISHPMIE)

Gexcon is pleased to participate in the 14^th International Symposium on Hazards, Prevention and Mitigation of Industrial Explosions which will be held in Braunschweig, Germany from 11 – 15 July 2022. 

The symposium will be hosted by Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) with the support of the Helmholtz Fund e. V., and the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg as the scientific partner and co-organiser.

At the symposium, Research Engineer Melodía Lucas will present a paper entitled:

“Improved modelling of hydrogen explosion – representing effects of varying concentration and reduced oxygen atmospheres”

In her presentation, Melodía will discuss the evaluation of the predictive capabilities of the advanced consequence modelling tool FLACS-CFD for deflagrations involving hydrogen. 

Two premixed combustion modelling approaches are presented:

• the extensively validated model included in FLACS-CFD 21.3; and
• a Markstein number dependent model implemented in the in-house development version FLACS-CFD 21.3 IH.

The predictive capabilities of the models for scenarios with different concentrations of hydrogen, and thus different Lewis and Markstein numbers, is assessed. Furthermore, the effect of atmospheres with added nitrogen on overpressure is investigated.

The purpose is to evaluate how different scenarios affect the performance of the two model versions for different regimes of premixed combustion. 

The validation dataset includes deflagrations in the open, deflagrations in a congested open area, vented deflagrations in an empty enclosure and vented deflagrations in congested enclosures.

The overpressure predictions by FLACS-CFD 21.3 IH are found to be more accurate than those obtained with FLACS-CFD 21.3 for scenarios with varying hydrogen concentrations and/or added nitrogen in the mixture. 

The predictions by FLACS-CFD 21.3 IH for lean hydrogen mixtures are within a factor of 2 of the values observed in the experiments. 

Improvements of the model are needed for a more accurate prediction of deflagrations involving rich hydrogen mixtures.

This evaluation is a part of Gexcon’s continuous effort in enhancing the consequence modelling software FLACS-CFD for hydrogen safety applications. You can learn more about the software here.

Join us at the symposium to listen to Melodía’s presentation. Click here to learn more about the event.