The kerosene explosibility: modelling and application to safety systems

The aim of this work is to study the kerosene explosibility in closed or ve nted vessels and to develop an application to safety systems. The basic cha racteristics of the model have been developed for the ignition and the comb ustion of propulsive powders and adapted to liquid fuels with appropriate p arameters linked to simplified kinetics. A simple representation of the com bustion phenomena based on energy transfers and the action of specific mole cular species is presented. The pressure venting, due to the vent breaking is calculated taking into account the mass rate of discharge of the differe nt products in the assumption of the standard orifice equations. The model allows the study of various parameters such as the nature of the kerosene, the fuel ratio of the mixture, the ignition energy, the thermal exchanges a nd the influence of the pressure venting or the vent area. The theoretical results have been compared with data obtained in the course of experiments performed in small vessel volumes (V-0 = 13 and 33 1) and indicate correct preliminary tendencies.