Explosion pressure of compressed gas based on thin-film pressure sensors

Sensors play a crucial role in monitoring gas explosion hazards in underground structures such as tunnels, subways and mine shafts. Due to the complexity of compressed gas explosion test environments and the irregularity of sensor installation surfaces, accurately measuring compressed gas explosion parameters is essential for assessing the explosion damage to engineering protective structures. Therefore, a uniform PVDF thin-film pressure sensor is developed using a polarization-edge depolarization method, and it is calibrated using a self-made sensor calibration device and a split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) calibration device. For comparative analysis, the experiments are conducted to simulate explosion scenarios using instantaneous explosions of compressed gas balloons in the air, with the explosion intensity controlled by adjusting the thickness of the balloons. Additionally, the position of the explosion point is controlled to study the explosion pressure in the compressed air field. The experimental results demonstrate that the calibrated results of the PVDF sensor obtained using the self-made sensor calibration device and the SHPB calibration device are basically consistent, with linear fitting degrees exceeding 0.95. The PVDF sensor can accurately capture pressure changes and reconstruct the explosion shock process, exhibiting high response speed and stability in measuring compressed gas explosions. It performs better than the piezoelectric ceramic sensors in this regard.