A method for the estimation of overpressure generated by open air hydrogen explosions

The existing methods for calculating overpressure resulting from a vapour cloud explosion (VCE) were tested for their ability to predict overpressures from unconfined hydrogen explosions. For it, data collated from five reported experimental investigations on open air hydrogen explosions covering 1.4-300 m3 volume of hydrogen-air mixtures and concentrations ranging 20-57% were employed. It was found that the existing VCE models are grossly inadequate for predicting the overpressure generated by unconfined hydrogen explosions. A new method was then developed for assessing overpressures from hydrogen explosions for a given concentration and volume of release based on Sach's scaling laws. The new model has much greater ability to fit the experimental data, hence much stronger ability to forecast the severity and consequences of hydrogen-based VCEs compared to the existing models.