Quantitative assessment and modeling of the propensity for fast flames and transition to detonation in methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), ethylene (C2H4) and propane (C3H8)

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The proposal is collaborative research between the University of Ottawa and Shell Canada, which addresses the likely hood that an accidental release of a flammable mixture (for example, in a processing plant or during transport) may lead to a fast flame or detonation. The present project aims to improve the current understanding and predictive capabilities of such supersonic reaction waves with the development of predictive engineering and numerical tools capable of assessing such events. These tools will help anticipate when these waves can arise and reveal measures that could be taken to prevent them. The results will provide a significant contribution to the improvement of process safety in the petrochemical industry. Canada, with its large chemical industry and dense pipeline network, will derive direct benefit in process safety design and performance. The proposed work addresses the likelihood for such fast flames and transition to detonation in volatile mixtures relevant to the petrochemical industry, namely methane, ethane, ethylene, and propane. The configuration studied is the high speed deflagrations obtained after the interaction of a detonation wave with a perforated plate. As shown previously, this unique set-up allows isolation of these fast reaction waves in the laboratory. It allows determination of the conditions and physical mechanisms controlling their establishment, sustenance and potential to undergo DDT. The investigation combines experiments and numerical modeling. Lab-scale experiments and numerical simulations performed with state-of-the-art physical and computational models developed in the proposed research will be used to generate scaling laws relating the acceleration rates of high speed flames with the thermo-chemical properties of the reactive mixtures. The proposed research will also contribute towards the training of two postdoctoral fellows and three graduate students.