THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

Song Lin

,

Enosa Lomeling Emmanuella

,

Yanting Cao

,

Lanyun Wang

,

Yunhao Li

,

Ming Peng

STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS AND SUPPRESSION MECHANISM OF DRY WATER MATERIALS IN INHIBITING H2/CH4 EXPLOSIONS IN HORIZONTAL PIPELINES

ABSTRACT
To investigate the suppression effect of dry water materials on H2/CH4 explosions, dry water materials were prepared and explosion suppression experiments were conducted using a self-built long straight steel pipe explosion test apparatus. The results indicate that a certain mass of dry water materials can effectively suppress explosions, reducing both the peak overpressure and peak rate of pressure rise. However, insufficient dry water material actually promotes H2/CH4 explosions, while excessive amounts diminish the suppression effect. Under the combined effects of high explosion temperatures and shock waves, the rupture of dry water materials exposes water to the combustion space. This absorbs substantial heat, exerting a cooling effect. Simultaneously, gaseous water dilutes oxygen concentration, inhibiting combustion. As the volume fraction of water participating in combustion increases, although H+O2=O+OH continues to enhance combustion, the inhibitory effect of H+CH3(+M)= CH4(+M) also intensifies. Once water concentration reaches a certain threshold, the promoting effect of HCO+M=H+CO+M disappears, giving way to a new elementary reaction: H+CH4=CH3+H2, which inhibits combustion. This research provides valuable reference for preventing and controlling H2/CH4 explosions.
KEYWORDS
dry water materials, Gas explosion, hydrogen energy safety, explosion suppression
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2026-01-23
PAPER REVISED: 2026-04-12
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2026-04-16
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2026-05-17
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI260123059L
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Study on the effectiveness and suppression mechanism of dry water materials in inhibiting H2/CH4 explosions in horizontal pipelines

© 2026 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence