Theoretical study of relief venting of dust explosion

Abstract

Relief venting is one of the protective methods most commonly provided against dust explosion hazards. Safety design has so far been based upon the empirical vent ratio, S/V, the area of vent per unit volume of vessel. However, direct use of this term as a scale-up factor is not theoretically sound. A revised form of scale-up factor as to relief venting is proposed on the basis of the unsteady-state macroscopic energy balance and several assumptions. The derived results show that the relationship between vent area and vessel volume can be characterized by a dimensionless term which must be used instead of the conventional vent ratio. Calculated results based upon the theory agree fairly well with past experimental data. © 1980, The Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan. All rights reserved.