Numerical study of the effect of water addition on gas explosion

Through amending the SENKIN code of CHEMKIN III chemical kinetics package, a computational model of gas explosion in a constant volume bomb was built, and the detailed reaction mechanism (GRI-Mech 3.0) was adopted. The mole fraction profiles of reactants, some selected free radicals and catastrophic gases in the process of gas explosion were analyzed by this model. Furthermore, through the sensitivity analysis of the reaction mechanism of gas explosion, the dominant reactions that affect gas explosion and the formation of catastrophic gases were found out. At the same time, the inhibition mechanisms of water on gas explosion and the formation of catastrophic gases were analyzed. The results show that the induced explosion time is prolonged, and the mole fractions of reactant species such as CH4, O2 and catastrophic gases such as CO, CO2 and NO are decreased as water is added to the mixed gas. With the water fraction in the mixed gas increasing, the sensitivities of the dominant reactions contributing to CH4, CO2 are decreased and the sensitivity coefficients of CH4, CO and NO mole fractions are also decreased. The inhibition of gas explosion with water addition can be ascribed to the significant decrease of H, O and OH in the process of gas explosion due to the water presence.