Modelling of electrostatic ignition hazards in industry examples of improvements of hazard assessment and incident investigation

Computer modelling and simulation of electrostatic phenomena is nowadays not very often used in industry for an assessment of ignition hazards due to static electricity. With 4 examples (silo filling and assessment of occurrence of cone discharges, calculation of capacitances of screws and flanges for assessment of earthing and bonding requirements, influence of sample geometry on the surface resistance and surface resistivity and assessment of requirements for plastic hoses with a metal spiral for pneumatic transfer of powders) the usefulness and benefit of model calculations of electrostatic phenomena for the assessment of electrostatic ignition hazards is demonstrated.     

Numerical simulation of the ignition of liquid fuel with a limited-energy source under turbulent flow conditions

The ignition of a typical liquid fuel with a limited-energy source, a small metal particle heated to high temperature is numerically simulated with consideration given to the possible turbulization of the fuel vapor flow. The dependences of the integral ignition characteristics on the key parameters of the local heat source are established. The integral ignition characteristics, as well as the fields of fuel vapor concentrations and velocities predicted by models accounting for the laminar and turbulent modes of the vapor-oxidizer mixture flow are compared.