Experimental Study on Methane Explosion Ignited by Sparks of Cable Bolt Breakage

An experimental device was designed for studying methane explosion ignited by sparks of cable bolt breakage. With the methane concentration being in explosion range, a series of experiments were conducted to study the law of spark generation during cable bolt breakage and the probability of methane explosion caused by the spark. The results show that the probability of generating sparks during cable bolt breakage is 50%. The spark generated by the breakage of steel cable bolt strand can't ignite a methane explosion. A detection was carried out using infrared-ray imaging apparatus (IRIA) to measure temperature of the spark generated by cable bolt breakage. It is indicated that the maximum temperature of the spark generated by cable bolt breakage is far less than the required ignition temperature for a methane explosion.