Research on quenching performance and multi-factor influence law of hydrogen crimped-ribbon flame arrester using response surface methodology

The effects of initial conditions, structure parameters, and expansion chamber structures on the flame quenching performance of hydrogen crimped-ribbon flame arrester were experimentally studied based on the self-built experimental apparatus. The influence law of different working conditions on flame propagation velocity (V_f) and explosion pressure (P_f) entering the flame arrester and the corresponding flame quenching results were obtained. The results indicated that the V_f and P_f showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing with increasing the hydrogen concentration (C₀ = 10%-50%). The V_f and P_f were gradually increased with increasing the initial pressure and ignition energy, resulting in the obvious increase of flame quenching failure probability. However, the decrease in porosity and the increase in element thickness resulted in an obvious increase in the flame quenching success probability. Meanwhile, the expansion chamber, as an important influencing factor, could obviously affect the flame quenching results by affecting the flame propagation velocity and explosion pressure entering the narrow channels. By comparing the effects of three expansion chambers on flame quenching performance, the influence extents of different expansion chamber structures were determined (the extended type expansion chamber > the baffle type expansion chamber > the conventional type expansion chamber). Then the multi-factor prediction models of V_f and P_f under different initial conditions and structure parameters were established based on the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) respectively, and the extents of each influencing factor and their interactions on V_f and P_f were determined. Besides, the multi-factor prediction models of the critical flame propagation velocity (V_c) and explosion pressure (P_c) under different structure parameters were also established respectively. It was found that V_c and P_c were only related to the flame arrester structure parameters, and the critical flame quenching criterion was proposed.