Analysis of the explosion behaviour of wheat starch/pyrolysis gases hybrid mixtures through experimentation and CFD-DPM simulations

Abstract The main objective of this work is to perform an exhaustive analysis of the explosion severity of wheat starch/pyrolysis gases hybrid mixtures in the 20-L Sphere Test and to determine how severe hybrid mixture explosions can be when compared to one phase explosions. Several experimental tests were performed at different concentrations of both phases and CFD simulations were run alongside to complement the experimental findings. The data were analysed using severity maps and adapted the stoichiometric parameters proposed in the literature. It was found that the explosion regimes proposed in the literature are not applicable to all types of mixtures given that, for wheat starch/pyrolysis gases, each regime could not be uniquely-characterized. In contrast, analysing the data using parameters that consider the chemical reactions is a superior methodology as it provides a comparative basis for assessing the explosion severity of different types of combustible materials, including hybrid mixtures.