US EPA

8625461 

Journal Article 

BLAST WAVES GENERATED BY THE RUPTURE OF GAS PRESSURISED DUCTILE PIPES 

Baum, MR 

1979 

INST CHEMICAL ENGINEERS 

RUGBY 

57 

1 

15-24 

WOS:A1979GH83500003 

The energy release resulting from the fragmentation of a gas pressurized vessel is sufficiently rapid for the blast wave at a given distance from the source to be similar to that generated if the same energy were released from a TNT explosion. However, for explosions where the energy release occurs more slowly (for example, that resulting from the rupture of a ductile gas pipe line) a TNT simulation based on the total energy available, while accurate for positive impulse of the blast wave, indicates peak overpressures significantly greater than occur in practice. A method is presented for determining the energy release associated with the generation of the peak overpressure in such cases. Comparison of data from experiments, in which ductile steel pipes were ruptured, with existing high explosive data has shown that a TNT simulation based on the reduced energy release derived in the work provides a realistic estimate of the peak overpressure.