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

该提案是渥太华大学和壳牌加拿大公司之间的合作研究，旨在解决意外释放易燃混合物（例如，在加工厂或运输过程中）可能导致快速火焰或爆炸的可能性。本项目旨在通过开发能够评估此类事件的预测工程和数值工具，提高当前对此类超音速反应波的理解和预测能力。这些工具将有助于预测这些波浪何时会出现，并揭示可以采取的预防措施。研究结果将为提高石化行业的工艺安全水平做出重要贡献。加拿大拥有庞大的化学工业和密集的管道网络，将在过程安全设计和性能方面获得直接利益。提议的工作解决了在与石化工业相关的挥发性混合物（即甲烷、乙烷、乙烯和丙烷）中发生这种快速火焰和过渡到爆炸的可能性。所研究的结构是爆震波与穿孔板相互作用后获得的高速爆燃。如前所述，这种独特的装置可以在实验室中隔离这些快速反应波。它允许确定控制它们的建立、维持和使用滴滴涕的潜力的条件和物理机制。本研究将实验与数值模拟相结合。实验室规模的实验和数值模拟将采用最先进的物理和计算模型进行，这些模型将用于生成高速火焰的加速速率与反应混合物的热化学性质相关的标度定律。拟议的研究还将有助于培养两名博士后研究员和三名研究生。

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.