Modelling of the effect of size on flocculent dust explosions

• A model for explosion of flocculent materials is proposed.
• The model includes the effect of size on the explosion deflagration index.
• The model well predicts experimental KSt at various diameters and lengths of nylon.

The effect of size on the severity of explosions involving flocculent materials has been simulated by means of a model previously developed for spherical particles and here extended to the cylindrical geometry of flock. The model consists of the identification of the regime (internal and external heating, pyrolysis/devolatilization reaction, and volatiles combustion) controlling the explosion by the evaluation of dimensionless numbers (Bi, Da, Th and Pc) and then of the estimation of the deflagration index as a function of flocculent size. The model has been validated by means of explosion data of polyamide 6.6 (nylon) at varying diameter and length. The comparison between model and experimental data show a fairly good agreement.