Temperature Dependence of H2/Air and CH4/Air Deflagrations

This study presents a detailed analysis of the combustion dynamics of stoichiometric H2–air and CH4–air mixtures in a 20 L closed vessel over an initial temperature range of 298–423 K. We integrate experimental pressure–time P(t) measurements with numerical analysis to extract laminar burning velocity (LBV) and deflagration index (KG) values, and we assess three independent kinetic mechanisms (KiBo_MU, University of San Diego, Lund University) via simulations. For H2–air, LBV increases from 0.50 m/s at 298 K to 0.94 m/s at 423 K (temperature exponent α ≈ 1.79), while for CH4–air, LBV rises from 0.36 m/s to 0.96 m/s (α ≈ 2.82). In contrast, the deflagration index KG decreases by ca. 20% for H2–air and ca. 30% for CH4–air over the same temperature span. The maximum explosion pressure (Pmax) and peak pressure rise rate ((dP/dt)max) also exhibit systematic increases with temperature. A comparison with model predictions shows agreement within experiments, providing data for safety modeling and kinetic mechanism validation in H2- and CH4-based energy systems.