Study On The Effect Of Initial Temperature And Initial Pressure On Propane Explosion Characteristics

As a traditional fuel and chemical raw material,propane has been widely used in daily life and industrial production.However,in recent years,due to unsafe behaviors,unsafe conditions,and operational environment,combustion and explosion accidents of propane and liquefied petroleum gas（propane as its main component）often occur,causing serious property damage and casualties.In order to comprehensive understand the explosion characteristics of propane,this paper studies the effects of initial temperature,initial pressure and different inert gases on propane explosion characteristics parameters by experimental research,theoretical calculation and numerical simulation.In the experimental temperature range（T₀=25℃-120℃）and pressure range（P₀=0.10MPa-0.16MPa）,the explosion limit of propane and its dilution with inert gas was measured by special environment 20L explosion characteristic test system.Firstly,in the experimental temperature range,as the initial temperature increases,the UEL of propane increases,the LEL decreases,and the explosion limit range becomes wider.The UEL and LEL are linearly related to the initial temperature.In the experimental pressure range,the LEL of propane fluctuates around 2.3%,however the UEL increases as the initial pressure increases.Secondly,under any initial conditions,as the inert gas dilution ratio increases,the UEL of propane decreases,the LEL increases,and the explosion risk value decreases.The inert gas has a greater influence on the UEL than LEL.In addition,as the initial temperature and pressure increase,the explosion limit range of propane at the same inert gas dilution ratio becomes larger,and the limiting oxygen concentration of propane also decreases as the initial temperature or pressure increases.Finally,under any initial conditions,the explosion limit range of propane dilution with carbon dioxide is smaller than dilution with nitrogen at the same dilution ratio,and the limiting oxygen concentration of propane during carbon dioxide dilution is always greater than the value of nitrogen dilution,indicating the inert effect of carbon dioxide is better than nitrogen.Similarly,the adiabatic flame temperature estimation and CHEMKIN simulation method are used to predict the explosion limit of propane at different inert gas dilution ratios.The adiabatic flame temperature estimation method is only accurate for the prediction of the explosion limit of propane during nitrogen dilution or carbon dioxide dilution at 25℃,while the CHEMKIN simulation only predicts the explosion limit of propane during carbon dioxide dilution or nitrogen dilution at 25℃and 0.10MPa.This shows that the application of these two methods still has certain limitations.Although the simulated value is directly used as the limit of the explosion limit of propane in the inert gas dilution under other conditions,the analog value can be used as an estimate of the explosion limit of propane in the dilution of the inert gas.