Effect of ignition delay on explosion parameters of corn dust/air in confined chamber

•At lower concentrations, explosion parameters decrease as ignition delay increases from 60 ms.•At higher concentrations, explosion parameters increase with ignition delay in 60–80 ms then decrease.•Explosion parameters of dust/air increase slightly with ignition delay from 60 to 80 ms at higher concentration.•Maximum explosion pressure of corn dust/air reaches highest (0.79 MPa) at concentration 1000 gm−3.

This paper presents the explosion parameters of corn dust/air mixtures in confined chamber. The measurements were conducted in a setup which comprises a 5 L explosion chamber, a dust dispersion sub-system, and a transient pressure measurement sub-system. The influences of the ignition delay on the pressure and the rate of pressure rise for the dust/air explosion have been discussed based on the experimental data. It is found that at the lower concentrations, the explosion pressure and the rate of pressure rise of corn dust/air mixtures decrease as the ignition delay increases from 60 ms; But at the higher concentrations, the explosion pressure and the rate of pressure rise increase slightly as the ignition delay increases from 60 ms to 80 ms, and decrease beyond 80 ms. The maximum explosion pressure of corn dust/air mixtures reaches its highest value equal to 0.79 MPa at the concentration of 1000 gm−3.