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A MODEL STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF AN EXPLOSION IN AN OXIDATION CUBICLE
Author(s) -
Thumpston N. S.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1968.tb12022.x
Subject(s) - citation , annals , library science , physics , history , classics , computer science
The chemical plants operated by the Heavy Organic Chemicals Division of Imperial Chemical Industries Limited (I.C.I.) at Billingham, Co. Durham, are designed to be free from explosion hazards and safe for personnel, but in the research work leading to the design, the risk cannot be entirely eliminated. It is the policy of the Heavy Organic Chemicals Division Research Department to protect personnel in such situations by housing the reaction equipment in reinforced concrete cubicles. A procedure that would permit the safe design of such cubicles was proposed by 1.C.I.l The principle adopted was to relate the maximum possible reaction energy to the equivalent small charge of TNT and to study the behavior of the cubicle and the effect on its surroundings in terms of such charges. The desirable attainment for the cubicles under discussion was that they should contain the detonation of an explosion equivalent to three pounds of TNT without damage to either personnel or equipment in the adjacent areas. The amount of expected damage to the cubicles was not prescribed, beyond stating that on a once-in-a-lifetime basis it was permissible to drive the structure well into the plastic region. The Foulness Establishment of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority was commissioned by I.C.I. to do the following work to obtain design confirmation for such cubicles.