Design of a room against explosion

[TLycan]

I am designing a pressure test room where a pipe under 10000 psi pressure is tested. it is required by the owner to design the room so that to prevent any projectile, if the pipe under the pressure exploded, to get out of the room.

Can any one help me where to find a source to design such a room.

Note: I've faced a similar situation for designing a boiler room, but my superiors told me to design the walls for 2tons/meter-squared

 

[rjenyoy12]

Check "Design of Blast Resistant Buildings for Petrochemical Facilities" from ASCE.

 

[azcats]

Won't the test procedure determine how much of a blast exists? If it's tested with an in-compressible liquid, would it explode like a gas filled pipe?

 

[MiketheEngineer]

Really big thick walls.... Also let the roof blow off - it will relieve a lot of the pressure!!

 

[WARose]

The reference rjenyoy12 mentioned is a pretty good one. (Another one is 'Structural Design For Physical Security', also by ASCE.) I think probably one of your biggest problems will be determining the blast force. Usually it's figured as a equivalent poundage of TNT.

 

[Archie264]

As a point of interest, some firearms enthusiasts consider Peter Paul Mauser's Model 98 be the pinnacle of bolt action firearm design. (The "98" refers to the year of it's introduction...1898!) Among it's many design features is it's provision for safetly venting gas in the event of a pierced primer or other type of explosion. In such and event the gas will vent upwards, downwards, left, and right...but not back into the eye of the shooter. The rifle would be destroyed and you'd soil your britches but be fine otherwise. And to prevent the rifle from fragmenting as it absorbed the energy the action very ductile. But, the feed rails on it were case hardened to reduce friction for smooth cycling of the bolt. Mauser was a genious ahead of his time - many rifle still don't have all these features.

These are just some things to keep in mind when trying chambers to "contain" expanding gas. At some point it can't be contained and must instead be vented as safely as possible.

 

[bpstruct]

I designed a "pressure test bay" a couple of years ago for an oil field operations base in the Middle East. The internal pressure requirement for design was 2psi. I never completey understood the rationale behind the design, but did it per owner's requirements after objections anyway.

 

[MiketheEngineer]

3 - 5 psi over pressure is common. Not sure where that comes from?? There are "explosion" proof Halon sytems (Fenwall - I beleive) that do a remarkable job in these situations!!

 

[JLNJ]

You might have trouble finding good data on what those loads might be and how to resist them. Someone would need to determine what the largest shrapnel size would be and what type of wall could stop the projectile. This is quite different than the overpressure due to an explosion.

 

[berkshire]

Whilst not quite what the OP is looking for, some years ago I drew up structures for hammer mills to contain them, if they exploded, the material would be exploding flour dust.
The usual structure was an open topped , double concrete reinforced block wall around the hammer mill, inside a metal framed building with tar paper explosion vents set for about 2 PSI in the upper portions of the metal wall. Shrapnel that blew straight up out of the concrete enclosure, was assumed to hit the roof and drop straight back down again.I never saw this tested.
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them. Old professor

 

[WARose]

You might have trouble finding good data on what those loads might be and how to resist them. Someone would need to determine what the largest shrapnel size would be and what type of wall could stop the projectile. This is quite different than the overpressure due to an explosion.

Depending on the shrapnel size (and the velocity is accelerated to by the explosion), not much force should develop. I calculated the force developed by (low caliber) firearms striking a wall some years back and the force developed wasn’t that bad (IIRC).

The really hard part in that is determining the velocity the shrapnel is accelerated to by the explosion……not sure how to quantify that.