Turbulence has a decisive influence on the course of dust and gas explosions. The aim of this study is to understand this influence in more detail and thereby to improve the assessment of explosions in technical systems.
Studies for maize-starch/air mixtures (c = 750 g/m3) and for propane/air mixtures (lambda = 1) are carried out in a 1 m3-vessel. Ordinary in testing vessels the turbulence will be generated by a perforated dust dispersion tube. In order to generate a turbulence field as homogeneous as possible, a perforated plate is moved through the vessel. The turbulence decay is used to set the effective turbulence at the ignition point.
From the experimentally determined pressure/time courses, important quantities of turbulent combustion are calculated using a calculation model. The dependency of the turbulent flame speed s(b) on the turbulence intensity u' is discussed for the closed and the vented vessel.