Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

Measurements have been made of the pressures and sound levels generated over a range of distances from a single compartment in which layers of nominally stoichiometric mixtures of natural gas and air, (10 per cent natural gas) were ignited and vented through vents of different depths. Relationships are presented for the variation of maximum explosion pressure within the compartment and the depth of the layer of explosible mixture for each vent depth, and for the variation of maximum pressure and sound levels with distance from the compartment in which the explosion occurred. For explosions in a compartment vented on one side only, the maximum external pressures recorded at sites normal to the vent opening vary inversely with distance from the compartment. Sound levels are reduced by 6 dB on doubling the distance from the explosion compartment.