Jump to main content
US EPA
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Search
Search
Main menu
Environmental Topics
Laws & Regulations
About EPA
Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)
Contact Us
Print
Feedback
Export to File
Search:
This record has one attached file:
Add More Files
Attach File(s):
Display Name for File*:
Save
Citation
Tags
HERO ID
6106684
Reference Type
Journal Article
Title
Comparison and evaluation of methods for the determination of flammability limits, applied to methane/hydrogen/air mixtures
Author(s)
Van den Schoor, F; Hermanns, RT; van Oijen, JA; Verplaetsen, F; de Goey, LP
Year
2008
Is Peer Reviewed?
Yes
Journal
Journal of Hazardous Materials
ISSN:
0304-3894
EISSN:
1873-3336
Publisher
Elsevier
Volume
150
Issue
3
Page Numbers
573-581
Language
English
PMID
17560716
DOI
10.1016/j.jhazmat.2007.05.006
Web of Science Id
WOS:000253219500013
URL
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S030438940700684X
Exit
Abstract
Different methods, both experimental and numerical, to determine the flammability limits are compared and evaluated, exemplified by a determination of the flammability limits of methane/hydrogen/air mixtures for hydrogen fuel molar fractions of 0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6, at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature. Two different experimental methods are used. The first method uses a glass tube with visual observation of the flame, whereas the second method uses a closed spherical vessel with a pressure rise criterion to determine whether flame propagation has occurred. In addition to these experiments, the flammability limits are determined numerically. Unsteady planar and spherically expanding flames are calculated with a one-dimensional flame code with the inclusion of radiation heat loss in the optically thin limit. Comparison of the experimental results with the results of the planar flame calculations shows large differences, especially for lean mixtures. These differences increase with increasing hydrogen content in the fuel. Better agreement with the experimental results is found for the spherically expanding flame calculations. A limiting burning velocity of 5 cm/s is found to predict the upper flammability limit determined with the tube method very well, whereas the limiting flame temperature approach was found to give poorer agreement. Further analysis indicates that the neglect of flame front instabilities is the probable cause of the large differences between experimental and numerical results at the lower flammability limit.
Home
Learn about HERO
Using HERO
Search HERO
Projects in HERO
Risk Assessment
Transparency & Integrity