Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers Part 15

_Effect of the Rate of Combustion on the Extent of Combustion s.p.a.ce Required._--With the same coal, the volume of the volatile combustible distilled from the fuel bed per unit of time varies as the rate of combustion. Thus, when this rate is double that of the standard, the volume of gases and tar vapors driven from the fuel is about doubled. To this increased volume of volatile combustible, about double the volume of air must be added, and, if the mixture is to be kept the same length of time within the combustion s.p.a.ce, the latter should be about twice as large as for the standard rate of combustion. Thus the combustion s.p.a.ce required for complete combustion varies, not only with the nature of the coal, but also with the rate of firing the fuel, which, of course, is self-evident.

_Effect of Air Supply on the Extent of Combustion s.p.a.ce Required._--Another factor which influences the extent of the combustion s.p.a.ce is the quant.i.ty of air mixed with the volatile combustible.

Perhaps, within certain limits, the combustion s.p.a.ce may be decreased when the supply of air is increased. However, any statement at present is only speculation; the facts must be determined experimentally. One fact is known, namely, that, in order to obtain higher temperatures of the products of combustion, the air supply must be decreased.

_Effect of Rate of Heating of Coal on the Extent of Combustion s.p.a.ce Required._--There is still another factor, a very important one, which, with a given coal and any given air supply, will influence the extent of the combustion s.p.a.ce. This factor is the rate of heating of the coal when feeding it into the furnace. The so-called "proximate" a.n.a.lysis of coal is indeed only very approximate. When the a.n.a.lysis shows, say, 40% of volatile matter and 45% of fixed carbon, it does not mean that the coal is actually composed of so much volatile matter and so much fixed carbon; it simply means that, under a certain rate of heating attained by certain standard laboratory conditions, 40% of the coal has been driven off as "volatile matter." If the rate or method of heating were different, the amount of volatile matter driven off would also be different. Chemists state that it is difficult to obtain accurate checks on "proximate" a.n.a.lysis. To ill.u.s.trate this factor, further reference may be made to the operation of the up-draft bituminous gas producers.

In the generator of such producers the tar vapors leave the freshly fired fuel, pa.s.s through the wet scrubber, and are finally separated by the tar extractor as a black, pasty substance in a semi-liquid state. If this tar is subjected to the standard proximate a.n.a.lysis, it will be shown that from 40 to 50% of it is fixed carbon, although it left the gas generator as volatile matter. It is desired to emphasize the fact that different rates of heating of high volatile coals will not only drive off different percentages of volatile matter, but that the latter itself varies greatly in chemical composition and physical properties as regards inflammability and rapidity of combustion. Thus it may be said that the extent of the combustion s.p.a.ce required for the complete oxidation of the volatile combustible depends on the method of charging the fuel, that is, on how rapidly the fresh fuel is heated. If this factor is given proper consideration, it may be possible to reduce very materially the necessary s.p.a.ce required for complete combustion.

_The Effect of the Rate of Mixing the Volatile Combustible and Air on the Extent of the Combustion s.p.a.ce._--When studying the effects discussed in the preceding paragraphs, the rate of mixing the volatile combustible with the supply of air must be as constant as practicable.

At first, tests will be made with no special mixing devices, the mixing will be accomplished entirely by the streams of air entering the furnace at the stoker, and by natural diffusion. Although there appears to be violent stirring of the gases above the fuel bed, the mixture of the gases does not become h.o.m.ogeneous until they are about 10 or 15 ft. from the stoker. The mixing caused by the air currents forced into the furnace at the stoker is very distinct, and can be readily observed through the peep-hole in the side wall of the Heine boiler, opposite the long combustion chamber. This mixing is shown in Fig. 20. _A_ is a current of air forced from the ash-pit directly upward through the fuel bed; _B_ and _B_ are streams of air forced above the fuel bed through numerous small openings at the furnace side of each hopper. Those currents cause the gases to flow out of the furnace in two spirals, as shown in Fig. 20. The velocity of rotation on the outside of the two spirals appears to be about 10 ft. per sec., when the rate of combustion is about 750 lb. of coal per hour. It is reasonable to expect that when the rate of mixing is increased by building piers and other mixing structures immediately back of the grate, the completeness of the combustion will be effected in less time, and a smaller combustion s.p.a.ce will be required. Thus, the mixing structures may be an important factor in the extent of the required combustion s.p.a.ce.

To sum up, it can be said that the extent of the s.p.a.ce required to obtain a combustion which can be considered complete for all practical purposes, depends on the following factors:

(_a_).--Nature of coal,

(_b_).--Rate of combustion,

(_c_).--Supply of air,

(_d_).--Rate of heating fuel,

(_e_).--Rate of mixing volatile combustible and air.

Just how much the extent of the combustion s.p.a.ce required will be influenced by these factors is the object of the experiments under discussion.

_The Scope of the Experiments._--With this object in view, as explained in the preceding paragraphs, the following series of experiments are planned:

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 20.

SECTION THROUGH STOKER SHOWING MIXING OF GASES CAUSED BY CURRENTS OF AIR]

Six or eight typical coals are to be selected, each representing a certain group of nearly the same chemical composition. Each series will consist of several sets of tests, each set being run with all the conditions constant except the one, the effect of which on the size of the combustion s.p.a.ce is to be investigated. Thus a set of four or five tests will be made, varying in rate of combustion from 20 to 80 lb. of coal per square foot of grate per hour, keeping the supply of air per pound of combustible and the rate of heating constant. This set will show the effect of the rate of combustion of the coal on the extent of s.p.a.ce required to obtain combustion which is practically complete. Other variables, such as composition of coal, supply of air, and rate of heating, remain constant.

Another set of four or five tests will be made with the same coal and at the same rate of combustion, but the air supply will be different for each test. This set of tests will be repeated for two or three different rates of combustion. Thus each of these sets will give the effect of the air supply on the extent of combustion s.p.a.ce when the coal and rate of combustion remain constant.

Still another set of tests should be made in which the time of heating the coal when feeding it into the furnace will vary from 3 to 30 min. In each of the tests of this set, the rate of combustion and the air supply will be kept constant, and the set will be repeated for two or three rates of combustion and two or three supplies of air. Each of these sets of tests will give the effect of the rate of heating of fresh fuel on the extent of combustion s.p.a.ce required to burn the distilled volatile combustible. These sets of experiments will require a modification in the stoker mechanism, and, on that account, may be put off until all the other tests on the other selected typical coals are completed. As the investigation proceeds, enough may be learned so that the number of tests in each series may be gradually reduced. After all the desirable tests are made with the furnace as it stands, several kinds of mixing structures will be built successively back of the stoker and tried, one kind at a time, with a set of representative tests. Thus the effectiveness of such mixing structures will be determined.

_Determining the Completeness of Combustion._--The completeness of combustion in the successive cross-sections of the stream of gases is determined mainly by the chemical a.n.a.lysis of samples of gases collected through the openings at these respective cross-sections. The first of these cross-sections at which gas samples are collected, pa.s.ses through the middle of the bridge wall; the others are placed at intervals of 5 ft. through the entire length of the furnace. Measurements of the temperature of the gases, and direct observations of the length and color of the flames and of any visible smoke will be also made through the side peep-holes. These direct observations, together with the gas a.n.a.lysis, will furnish enough data to determine the length of travel of the combustible mixture to reach practically complete combustion.

In other words, these observations will determine the extent of the combustion s.p.a.ce for various kinds of coal when burned under certain given conditions. Direct observations and the a.n.a.lysis of gases at sections nearer the stoker than that at which the combustion is practically complete, will show how the process of combustion approaches its completion. This information will be of extreme value in determining the effect of shortening the combustion s.p.a.ce on the loss of heat due to incomplete combustion.

_Method of Collecting Gas Samples._--The collection of gas samples is a difficult problem in itself, when one considers that the temperature of the gases, as they are in the furnace, ranges from 2,400 to 3,200 Fahr.; consequently, the samples must be collected with water-cooled tubes. Thus far, about 25 preliminary tests have been made. These tests show that the composition of the gases at the cross-sections near the stoker is not uniform, and that more than one sample must be taken from each cross-section. It was decided to take 9 samples from the cross-section immediately back of the stoker, and reduce the number in the sections following, according to the uniformity of the gas composition. Thus, about 35 simultaneous gas samples must be taken for each test. The samples will be subjected, not only to the usual determination of CO_{2}, O_{2} and CO, but to a complete a.n.a.lysis. It is also realized that some of the carbon-hydrogen compounds which, at the furnace temperature, exist as heavy gases, are condensed to liquids and solids when cooled in the sampling tubes, where they settle and tend to clog it. To neglect the presence of this form of the combustible would introduce considerable error in the determination of the completeness of combustion at any of the cross-sections. Therefore, special water-cooled sampling tubes are constructed and equipped with filters which separate the liquid and solid combustible from the gases. The contents of these filters are then also subjected to complete a.n.a.lysis. To obtain quant.i.tative data, a measured quant.i.ty of gases must be drawn through these filtering sampling tubes.

_The Measuring of Temperatures._--At present the only possible known method of measuring the temperature of the furnace gases is by optical and radiation pyrometers. Platinum thermo-couples are soon destroyed by the corrosive action of the hot gases. The pyrometers used at present are the Wanner optical pyrometer and the Fery radiation pyrometer.

_The Flow of Heat Through Furnace Walls._--An interesting side investigation has developed, in the study of the loss of heat through the furnace walls. In the description of this experimental furnace it has been said that the side walls contained a 2-in. air s.p.a.ce, which, in the roof, was replaced with a 1-in. layer of asbestos. To determine the relative resistance to heat flow of the air s.p.a.ce and the asbestos layer, 20 thermo-couples were embedded, in groups of four, to different depths at three places in the side wall and at two places in the roof.

In the side wall, one of the thermo-couples of each group was placed in the inner wall near the furnace surface; the second thermo-couple was placed in the same wall, but near the surface facing the air s.p.a.ce; the third thermo-couple was placed in the outer wall near the inner surface; and the fourth was placed near the outer surface in the outer wall. In the roof the second and third thermo-couples were placed in the brick near the surface on each side of the asbestos layer. These thermo-couples have shown that the temperature drop across the 2-in. air s.p.a.ce was much less than that across the 1-in. layer of asbestos; in fact, that it was considerably less than the temperature drop through the same thickness of the brick wall.

The results obtained prove that, as far as heat insulation is concerned, air s.p.a.ces in furnace walls are undesirable. The heat is not conducted through the air, but leaps across the s.p.a.ce by radiation. In furnace construction a solid wall is a better heat insulator than one of the same total thickness containing an air s.p.a.ce. If it is necessary to build a furnace wall in two parts on account of unequal expansion, the s.p.a.ce between the two walls should be filled with some solid, cheap, non-conducting materials, such as ash, sand, or crushed brick. A more detailed account of these experiments may be found in a Bulletin of the U.S. Geological Survey ent.i.tled "The Flow of Heat Through Furnace Walls."

WALTER O. SNELLING, Esq.[30] (by letter).--The work of the United States Testing Station at Pittsburg has been set forth so fully by Mr. Wilson that a further statement as to the results achieved may seem like repet.i.tion. It would be most unlikely, however, that studies of such variety should possess no other value than along the direct lines being investigated. In the case of the Mine Accidents Division, at least, it is certain that the indirect benefits of some of the studies have been far-reaching, and are now proving of value in lines far removed from those which were the primary object of the investigation. They are developing facts which will be of great value to all engineers or contractors engaged in tunneling or quarrying. As the writer's experience has been solely in connection with the chemical examination of explosives, he will confine his discussion to this phase.

In studying the properties of various explosives, and in testing work to separate those in which the danger of igniting explosive mixtures of coal dust and air, or of fire-damp and air, is greatest, from those in which this danger is least, much information has been collected. Mr.

Wilson has described many of the tests, and it can be readily seen that in carrying out these and other tests on each of the explosives submitted, a great many facts relating to the properties of explosive compounds have been obtained, which were soon found to be of decided value in directions other than the simple differentiation of explosives which are safe from those which are unsafe in the presence of explosive mixtures of fire-damp or coal dust.

The factors which determine the suitability of an explosive for work in material of any particular physical characteristics depend on the relationship of such properties as percussive force (or the initial blow produced by the products of the decomposition of the explosive at the moment of explosion), and the heaving force (or the continued pressure produced by the products of the decomposition, after the initial blow at the instant of detonation). Where an explosive has been used in coal or rock of a certain degree of brittleness, and where the work of the explosive with that particular coal is not thoroughly satisfactory, it becomes evident that through the systematic use of the information available at the Testing Station (and now in course of publication in the form of bulletins), in regard to the relationship between percussive and heaving forces in different explosives, as shown by the tests with small lead blocks, the Trauzl test, and the ballistic pendulum, that explosives can be selected which, possessing in modified form the properties of the explosive not entirely satisfactory in that type of coal or rock, would combine all the favorable properties of the first explosive, together with such additional advantages as would come from its added adaptation to the material in which it is to be used.

For example, if the explosive in use were found to have too great a shattering effect on the coal, an examination of the small lead-block test of this explosive, and a comparison of this with lead-block tests of other explosives having practically the same strength, as shown by the ballistic pendulum, will enable the mine manager to select from those already on the Permissible List (and therefore vouched for in regard to safety in the presence of gas and coal dust, when used in a proper way), some explosive which will have the same strength, and yet which, because of lessened percussive force or shattering effect, will produce coal in the manner desired. If one takes the other extreme, and considers a mine in which the product is used exclusively for the preparation of c.o.ke (and therefore where shattering of the coal is in no way a disadvantage), the mine superintendent's interest will be primarily to select an explosive which, as indicated by suitable lead-block, Trauzl, and ballistic pendulum tests, will produce the greatest amount of coal at the least cost.

As the cost of the explosive does not form any part of the tables prepared by the Testing Station, the relative cost must be computed from the manufacturer's prices, but the results tabulated by the Station will contain all the other data necessary to give the mine superintendent (who cares to take the small amount of trouble necessary to familiarize himself with the tables) all the information which is required to compare the action of one explosive with that of any other explosive tested.

In this way it is seen that, aside from the primary consideration of safety in the presence of explosive mixtures of fire-damp and coal dust (a condition alike fulfilled by all explosives admitted to the Permissible List), the data prepared by the Testing Station also give the information necessary to enable the discriminating mine manager to select an explosive adapted to the particular physical qualities of the coal at his mine, or to decide intelligently between two explosives of the same cost on the basis of their actual energy content in the particular form of the heaving or percussive force required in his work.

Up to the present time the investigations have been confined to explosives used in coal mining, because the Act of Congress establishing the Testing Station has thus limited its work. Accordingly, it is not possible to compare, on the systematic basis just mentioned, the explosives generally used in rock work. It is probable that, if the Bill now before Congress in regard to the establishment of a Bureau of Mines is pa.s.sed, work of this character will be undertaken, and the tables of explosives now prepared will be extended to cover all those intended for general mining and quarrying use. Data of such character are un.o.btainable to-day, and, as a result, a considerable percentage of explosives now used in all mining operations is wasted, because of their lack of adaptation to the materials being blasted. It is well known, for example, that when an explosive of high percussive force is used in excavating in a soft or easily compressed medium, a considerable percentage of its force is wasted as heat energy, performing no other function than the distortion and compression of the material in which it is fired, without exerting either an appreciable cracking or fissuring effect, or a heaving or throwing of the material.

Owing to lack of information in regard to the exact relationship between the percussive and the heaving force in particular explosives, this waste, as compared with the quant.i.ty required for the work with a properly balanced material, will continue; but it is to be hoped that it will soon be possible to give the mining and quarrying industries suitable information in regard to the properties of the various explosives, so that the railroad contractor and the metal miner may have the same simple and exact means of discrimination between suitable and unsuitable explosives that is now being provided for the benefit of the coal miner.

Another of the important but indirect benefits of this work has been the production of uniformity of strength and composition in explosives. An example of this helpful influence is the standardization of detonating caps and electric detonators. In the early days of the explosive industry, it was apparently advantageous for each manufacturer to have a separate system of trade nomenclature by which to designate the strengths of the different detonators manufactured by him. The necessity and even the advantage of such methods have long been outgrown, and yet, until the past year, the explosive industry has had to labor under conditions which made it almost impossible for the user of explosives to compare, in cost or strength, detonators of different manufacturers; or to select intelligently the detonator best suited to the explosive to be used. After conference with the manufacturers of detonating caps and electric detonators, a standard system of naming the strengths of these products has been selected by the Testing Station, and has met with a most hearty response. It is encouraging to note that, in recent trade catalogues, detonators are named in such a way as to enable the user to determine directly the strength of the contained charge, which is a decided advantage to every user of explosives and also to manufacturers.

The uniformity of composition of explosives (and many difficulties in mining work and many accidents have been rightly or wrongly attributed to lack of uniformity) may be considered as settled in regard to all those on the Permissible List. One of the conditions required of every explosive on that list is that its composition must continue substantially the same as the samples submitted originally for official test. Up to the present, all explosives admitted to the Permissible List have maintained their original composition, as determined by subsequent a.n.a.lyses of samples selected from mines in which the explosive was in use, and comparison with the original samples.

The data a.s.sembled by the Testing Station in regard to particular explosives have also been of great benefit to the manufacturers. When the explosives tests were commenced, comparatively few explosives were being made in the United States for which it was even claimed by the manufacturers that they were at all safe in the presence of explosive mixtures of gas or coal dust. It was evident that, without systematic tests, very little knowledge of the safety or lack of safety of any particular explosive could ever be gained, and, consequently, the user of explosives was apt to regard with incredulity any claim by the manufacturer in regard to the qualities of safety. Owing to lack of proof, this was most natural; and it was also evident that the very slow process of testing, which was offered by a study of mine explosions during past years, was sufficient only to prove the danger of black powder, and not in any way to indicate the safety of any of the brands of mining powder for which this property was claimed. Indeed, one of the few explosives to which the name, "safety," was attached, at the time the Government experiments were first undertaken, was found to be anything but safe when tested in the gallery, although there is no reason to believe that the makers of this and other explosives claiming "safety" for their product, did not have the fullest confidence in their safety.

The Testing Station offered the first opportunity in the United States to obtain facts in regard to the danger of any particular explosive in the presence of explosive mixtures of gas or coal dust. With most commendable energy, the manufacturers of explosives, noting the early failures of their powders in the testing gallery, began at once to modify them in such ways as suggested by the behavior of the explosives when under test, and, in a short time, returned to the Testing Station with improved products, able to stand the severe tests required. In this way the Testing Station has been a most active agent in increasing the general safety of explosives, and the manufacturers have shown clearly that it never was their desire to offer inferior explosives to the public, but that their failures in the past were due solely to lack of information in regard to the action of explosives under the conditions which exist before a mine disaster. The chance being offered to duplicate, at the Testing Station, the conditions represented in a mine in the presence of gas, they showed an eagerness to modify and improve their explosives so as to enable them to answer severe mining conditions, which is most commendable to American industry.

In regard to the unfavorable conditions existing in mines in the past, the same arguments may be used. In spite of the frequency of mine accidents in the United States, and in spite of the high death rate in coal mining as compared with that in other countries, it must be said in fairness that this has been the result of ignorance of the actual conditions which produce mine explosions, rather than any willful disregard of the known laws of safety by mine owners. Conditions in American mines are far different from those obtaining in mines abroad, and, as a result, the rules which years of experience had taught to foreign colliery managers were not quickly applied to conditions existing in American mines; but, as soon as the work at the Pittsburg Station had demonstrated the explosibility of the coal dust from adjoining mines, and had shown the very great safety of some explosives as compared with others, there was at once a readiness on the part of mine owners throughout the country to improve conditions in their mines, and to take advantage of all the studies made by the Government, thus showing clearly that the disasters of the past had been due to lack of sufficient information rather that to any willful disregard of the value of human lives.

Another of the indirect benefits of the work of the Station has resulted from its examination of explosives for the Panama Ca.n.a.l. For several years the Isthmian Ca.n.a.l Commission has been one of the largest users of explosives in the world, and, in the purchase of the enormous quant.i.ties required, it was found necessary to establish a system of careful examination and inspection. This was done in order to insure the safety of the explosives delivered on the Isthmus, and also to make certain that the standards named in the contract were being maintained at all times. With its established corps of chemists and engineers, it was natural that this important work should be taken up by the Technologic Branch of the United States Geological Survey, and, during the past three years, many millions of pounds of dynamite have been inspected and samples a.n.a.lyzed by the chemists connected with the Pittsburg Testing Station, thus insuring the high standard of these materials.

One of the many ways in which this work for the Ca.n.a.l Commission has proved of advantage is shown by the fact that, as a result of studies at the Testing Station, electric detonators are being made to-day which, in water-proof qualities, are greatly superior to any similar product. As the improvements of these detonators were made by a member of the testing staff, all the pecuniary advantages arising from them have gone directly to the Government, which to-day is obtaining superior electric detonators, and at a cost of about one-third of the price of the former materials.

All the work of the Technologic Branch is being carried out along eminently practical lines, and is far removed from such work as can be taken up advantageously by private or by State agencies. The work of the Mine Accidents Division was taken up primarily to reduce the number of mine accidents, and to increase the general conditions of safety in mining. As the work of this Division has progressed, it has been found to be of great advantage to the miner and the mine owner, while the ultimate results of the studies will be of still greater value to every consumer of coal, as they will insure a continued supply of this valuable product, and at a lower cost than if the present methods, wasteful alike in lives and in coal, had been allowed to continue for another decade.

A. BARTOCCINI, a.s.soc. M. Am. Soc. C. E. (by letter).--The writer made a personal investigation of the mine disaster of Cherry, Ill. He interviewed the men who escaped on the day of the accident, and also several of those who were rescued one week later. He also interrogated the superintendent and the engineer of the mine, and obtained all the information asked for and also the plans of the mine showing the progress of the work.

After a careful investigation the writer found that the following conditions existed at the mine at the time of the disaster:

_First._--There were no means for extinguishing fires in the mine.

_Second._--There were no signal systems of any kind. Had the mine been provided with electric signals and telephones, like some of the most modern mines in the United States, the majority of the men could have been saved, by getting into communication with the outside and working in conjunction with the rescuers.

_Third._--The miners had never received instructions of how to behave in case of fire.

_Fourth._--The main entries and stables were lighted with open torches.

_Fifth._--The organization of the mine was defective in some way, for at the time of the disaster orders came from every direction.

_Sixth._--The air shaft was used also as a hoisting shaft.