Abstract
This paper covers several practical engineering aspects of gaseous detonations in piping systems:
(1) Description of the phenomena and physics of deflagration, detonation, deflagration-to-detonation transition and reflected deflagration-to-detonation transition in piping systems;
(2) Development of transient pressures and loads caused by the detonation process in piping systems and in-line components;
(3) Analytical evaluation techniques and assessment criteria in the context of the ASME B31 Codes. There are several factors that govern the type and severity of gaseous detonations in piping systems including gas composition, initial pressure and ignition location within the piping system. This paper addresses many of these factors and how they affect the characteristics of gaseous detonations in piping systems. The critical characteristic used to determine the structural integrity of piping systems to withstand a detonation is the transient pressure history inside the piping. This paper addresses how to develop such transient pressure histories that can then be readily applied to analytical structural models. There are several methods that can be used to apply a transient pressure history to a structural model of a piping system. This paper addresses some methods that have been used to apply this type of loading to finite element models in Abaqus. These methods could be easily adapted to other FEA software packages. There are also several evaluation methods that can be used to determine the structural integrity of the piping system. This paper addresses some of the more advance methods involving plastic deformation with strain limit damage and explicit time-history solvers. Finally, this paper is specifically focused on piping systems and pipelines where gaseous detonations have unique characteristics compared to more open volumes such as tanks and vessels. A separate paper (PVP2022-84269) addresses the unique characteristics of gaseous detonations in pressure vessels.
