Abstract:
To investigate the effect of inert gas injection parameters on the explosion characteristics of H
2-CH
4 mixtures, experiments were carried out in a horizontal pipeline to study the suppression of H
2-CH
4 mixture explosions by N
2 and CO
2. The effects of N
2 and CO
2 injection positions and injection angles on explosion pressure, flame propagation speed, and flame front temperature of H
2-CH
4 mixtures were examined. The results showed that N
2 and CO
2 significantly reduced explosion pressure, flame propagation speed, and flame front temperature, and that the suppression effect of CO
2 on H
2-CH
4 mixture explosions was stronger than that of N
2. The suppression ability of inert gas was better when injected at the near-flame end than at the far-flame end. As the injection angle of inert gas increased, the maximum explosion pressure, flame propagation speed, and flame front temperature gradually decreased, and the suppression effect on H
2-CH
4 mixtures gradually increased. Chemkin-Pro simulations indicated that, with the addition of CO
2, the peak molar fractions of H radicals and OH radicals decreased by 14.2% and 9.9%, respectively, compared with the condition without suppression; whereas with the addition of N
2, the molar fractions of H radicals and OH radicals were almost unchanged compared with the condition without suppression. The combined injection mode of "near-flame end + large angle" could maximize the synergistic suppression effect of CO
2 in terms of radical consumption, physical heat absorption, and combustible gas dilution, while the combined injection mode of "far-flame end + small angle" weakened the suppression efficiency of inert gas due to the dual limitations of diffusion delay and gas mixing non-uniformity.