Experimental studies on the explosion characteristics of LDPE dust under the action of wire mesh

Abstract

To expose the influence of wire mesh number and dust characteristics on the suppression of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) dust explosion, this paper investigates the effects of both the spread of flame behavior and overpressure distribution features of LDPE dust explosion by using a high-speed camera and a semi-open vertical glass pipe. The consequence indicates that the characteristics of wire mesh number and dust have a collaborative restraint effect on the LDPE dust explosion. Augment the mesh number of single-layer wire mesh will enhance the irregularity of the flame front, which can promote the explosion of dust clouds in the range of 1040 g/m³ ∼ 2080 g/m³ before the flame is fully quenched; dust particle size dispersed is the same, and the average flame speed with the enhanced mesh number and reduced; the higher the mesh number, the more significant the quenching effect of the wire mesh on the explosion flame, and the non-uniformity of the overpressure distribution in the pipe gradually increases; the bottom of the pipeline overpressure and the size of the particle is negatively correlated to the mesh number of the positively correlated, and increased and then decreased with the increase of the dust cloud concentration, and showed a significant change in the working conditions with a wire number of 60, a D₅₀ of 104 μm, and a dust cloud concentration of 1040 g/m³. Therefore, the coupling action of mesh number, dust particle size, and dust cloud concentration should be fully considered when the wire mesh is used for explosion suppression design.