Influence of pressure, temperature and vessel volume on explosion characteristics of ethanol/air mixtures in closed spherical vessels

- Experimentally determined explosion parameters of ethanol/air mixture.
- Influence of initial conditions on the explosion characteristics.
- Linear correlations between the explosion pressures and the initial pressure.
- Linear correlations between the rates of pressure rise and the initial pressure.

Ethanol is a biofuel that can be used as an alternative fuel or as a blending component for combustion engines. This requires more information and systematic investigation of the explosion parameters of ethanol in air under various conditions. The most frequently used pressure-related parameters for risk assessment - the maximum explosion pressures, the maximum rates of pressure rise, the severity factors and the maximum explosion delay time - are determined in two spherical vessels (volume: 0.005 m3 and 0.020 m3) for various ethanol/air mixtures (3.5-20.0 vol%) at various initial pressures (10.1-101 kPa) and temperatures (298-373 K).