BM-U facility for simulating emergency processes involving the propagation and combustion of flammable gases

Abstract

Accidents involving the release of large amounts of combustible gases, such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, etc., are possible at nuclear power plants, as well as in chemical production facilities. Currently, calculation tools are used for substantiate explosion safety. To permit their validation, experimental data obtained from a prototype facility are required. RFNC–VNIITF has developed a two-chamber BM‑U facility disposing a total volume of 156 m³ for simulating emergency processes of leakages and combustion of hydrogen-containing vapor-gas mixtures. Inside this facility, equipment prototypes characteristic of the simulated object can be installed to account for their influence on the overall level of explosion safety. The BM‑U facility is additionally equipped with the necessary state-of-the-art measuring instruments. When the facility was put into operation, an experiment with the ignition of an air mixture with 6 vol % of hydrogen was conducted.