The phenomenon of combustible dust explosions is present within many industries. Tests for explosibility of dust clouds per ASTM E1226 use a 20 L explosive chamber that places the combustible dust directly below the dispersion nozzle which generates a thorough mixture for testing purposes. However, in the underground coal mining industry, there are a number of geologic, mining, and regulatory factors that change the deposition scheme of combustible coal dust. This causes the atmosphere of a coal mine to have a variable rock dust-coal dust mixture at the time of ignition. To investigate the impact of this variable atmosphere, a series of lean explosibility tests were conducted on a sample of Pittsburgh Pulverized coal dust. These explosibility tests were conducted in a 38 L chamber with a 5 kJ Sobbe igniter. The 38 L chamber generates a variable air-dust mixture prior to ignition. The test results indicate that the 38 L chamber experiences reduced explosive pressures, and lower explosibility index values when compared to the 20 L chamber.
- Coal,
- Coal industry,
- Coal mines,
- Explosions,
- Explosives,
- Ignition,
- Mine dust,
- Mixtures,
- Coal mining,
- Combustible dust,
- Dust explosion,
- Explosibility,
- Explosibility index,
- Pulverized coals,
- Regulatory factors,
- Underground coal mining,
- Coal dust,
- Dust explosion,
- Explosibility testing
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/kyle-perry/6/