Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The performance of wire gauzes as flame arresters for gas explosions in a short tubing system has been studied. The gauzes were mounted inside the tube, which was straight and was held vertically, and flammable mixtures containing propane, ethylene, or Town's gas were passed into the tube and then ignited at the open end. The velocity of the flame that was just quenched by a single gauze was approximately inversely proportional to the width of the mash of the gauze. Tests wore also made with packs of coarse gauzes and combinations of coarse and fine gauzes. Some theoretical considerations are given.