Comparative analysis of rapid calculation methods for physical explosions of pressure vessels

A large number of correlations are available in the literature to estimate the overpressure profiles deriving from the physical explosion of vessels containing compressed gases. However, none of them is widely recognized as the most general and reliable, and in many cases the respective range of applicability is not always very clear. The paper presents a comparative analysis applying two of the most commonly used calculation procedures to a great number of study cases, in order to highlight the dependence of the results on the main input parameters: substance, size of the vessel and the operating conditions (P, T). The results were related to the operating variables and to the physical properties of the substances, in order to obtain guidelines about the use and the reliability of the rapid methods