CFD Simulation of an Unconfined Vapor Cloud Explosion through obstacles using OpenFoam

Cléante Langree (1, 2) , E. Franquet (3) , J. Reveillon (2) , Guillaume Lecocq (1) , F.X. Demoulin (2)

1 INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques
2 CORIA - Complexe de recherche interprofessionnel en aérothermochimie
3 LATEP - Laboratoire de Génie Thermique Énergétique et Procédés (EA1932)

In this work, numerical simulations are carried out to characterize the impact of obstacles on flame propagation velocity to properly assess the consequences of Unconfined Vapor Cloud Explosions (UVCE).Within this scope, an UVCE within a congested environment is simulated using RANS modeling of the turbulence. Combustion phenomena are characterized through the progress variable transport equation. The simulation is done with the open source library OpenFoam. Numerical results are compared with data from the INERIS and GDF-SUEZ experimental campaign EXJET (hydrogen-air and methane-air explosions).

Keywords: HAZARDS; INDUSTRIAL EXPLOSIONS; CFD; PREMIXED COMBUSTION

Domains: Reactive fluid environment

Cléante Langree, E. Franquet, J. Reveillon, Guillaume Lecocq, F.X. Demoulin. CFD Simulation of an Unconfined Vapor Cloud Explosion through obstacles using OpenFoam. 13th International symposium on hazards, prevention, and mitigation of industrial explosions (ISHPMIE 2020), Jul 2020, Braunschweig, Germany. pp.262-269, ⟨10.7795/810.20200724⟩. ⟨ineris-03319942⟩