Study on explosion characteristics of natural gas and methane in semi-open space for the HTTR hydrogen production system

Inaba, Yoshitomo; Nishihara, Tetsuo; Groethe, M. A.*; Nitta, Yoshikazu*

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 232(1), p.111 - 119, 2004/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2004.04.007

It is important to grasp the explosion characteristics of object gases: natural gas and methane, in order to evaluate the influence of a gas explosion accident in the HTTR hydrogen production system on the reactor. Thus, we carried out explosion experiments of the object gases in semi-open space, and verified a numerical analysis code for the simulation of the explosion accident. It was confirmed that NG-air mixture or methane-air mixture in semi-open space didn't result in DDT although 10 g of C-4 explosive was used as an ignition source, and the numerical results agreed relatively with the experimental results. As a result, we could have the prospects for predicting the influence of the explosion accident on the reactor.