Explosive limit

Mixtures of dispersed combustible materials (such as gaseous or vaporised fuels, and some dusts) and air will burn only if the fuel concentration lies within well-defined lower and upper bounds determined experimentally, referred to as flammability limits or explosive limits. Combustion can range in violence from deflagration, through detonation, to explosion.

Limits vary with temperature and pressure, but are normally expressed in terms of volume percentage at 25 °C and atmospheric pressure. These limits are relevant both to producing and optimising explosion or combustion, as in an engine, or to preventing it, as in uncontrolled explosions of build-ups of combustible gas or dust. Attaining the best combustible or explosive mixture of a fuel and air (the stoichiometric proportion) is important in internal combustion engines such as gasoline or diesel engines.

The standard reference work is that by Zabetakis using an apparatus developed by the United States Bureau of Mines.

Combustion can vary in degree of violence. A deflagration is a propagation of a combustion zone at a velocity less than the speed of sound in the unreacted medium. A detonation is a propagation of a combustion zone at a velocity greater than the speed of sound in the unreacted medium. An explosion is the bursting or rupture of an enclosure or container due to the development of internal pressure from a deflagration or detonation as defined in NFPA 69.

Lower explosive limit (LEL): The lowest concentration (percentage) of a gas or a vapor in air capable of producing a flash of fire in presence of an ignition source (arc, flame, heat). The term is considered by many safety professionals to be the same as the lower flammable limit (LFL). At a concentration in air lower than the LEL, gas mixtures are "too lean" to burn. Methane gas has an LEL of 5.0%. If the atmosphere has less than 5.0% methane, an explosion cannot occur even if a source of ignition is present.

Percentage reading on combustible air monitors should not be confused with the LEL concentrations. Explosimeters designed and calibrated to a specific gas may show the relative concentration of the atmosphere to the LEL—the LEL being 100%. A 5% displayed LEL reading for methane, for example, would be equivalent to 5% multiplied by 5.0%, or approximately 0.25% methane by volume at 20 degrees C. Control of the explosion hazard is usually achieved by sufficient natural or mechanical ventilation, to limit the concentration of flammable gases or vapors to a maximum level of 25% of their lower explosive or flammable limit.

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