CFD Simulation of Layered Fuel-Air Explosions

The explosions involving layered fuel-air mixtures are of interest both for safety and technical applications. This paper deals with the analysis of flame propagation in large-scale layered mixtures, aiming at the prediction of consequences of explosions when flammable clouds are formed from accidental liquid spills or gas leaks in closed or partially confined environment [1-8]. A CFD approach to reproduce the laminar flame propagation in layered methane-air mixtures, adopting a grid size suitable for evaluating large-scale gas explosions, is proposed by implementing a new combustion model as user subroutine of a commercial solver named CFD-ACE+, developed by CFD Research Corporation, USA [9]. At the moment, only the first premixed laminar combustion model has been implemented. The results are validated over experimental test cases where the layered fuel air mixture allows for the presence of this mechanism alone [3].