Experimental investigations on the roles of moisture in coal dust explosion

Explosion behaviors of coal dusts were systematically investigated to focus on the roles of moisture in dust explosion. It is found that, when the moisture content is lower, the explosion parameters (Pex, (dp/dt)ex and MEC) basically keep a linear relationship with the moisture content. With the further increase of moisture content, the moisture would gradually agglomerate fine particles by reducing inter-particle distance and forming liquid bridges between particles. This behavior causes the increase of effective particle size and the reduction of dust dispersibility, which would notably heighten the uncertainty of explosion tests. These results indicate that to limit the moisture content is necessary when measuring explosion parameters in practice. Considering that (dp/dt)ex is more sensitive than Pex and MEC to the particle agglomeration, for coal dusts with the particle size