Design and performance analysis of explosion vents: Effects of groove depth and number of petals

Explosion vents, or rupture discs, are critical safety components in high-thrust article containers, ensuring controlled pressure release during operation and maintaining structural integrity of the containers. This study examines the design and performance of explosion vents, emphasizing on the effects of groove depth and petal configuration. Grooves enable precise vent opening under high-pressure conditions. Several vent variants were designed, and explicit dynamic finite element analysis (FEA) using ANSYS was performed to determine burst pressure and burst time under specified operating conditions. Mesh refinement played a key role, with a hex-dominant meshing strategy employed to enhance accuracy and computational efficiency, minimizing tetrahedral and pyramidal elements which increased geometric stiffness and compromised precision. Results showed an inverse relationship between groove depth and burst pressure, where small changes significantly impacted performance. While petal configuration had no effect on burst pressure, it caused minor variations in burst time due to stress distribution differences from impulsive loading. Minor discrepancies between theoretical and analytical results were linked to the exclusion of groove number and groove depth in calculations. This research advances the theoretical understanding of explosion vent mechanics and provides practical design guidelines for safer, more reliable explosion vents in aerospace and high-pressure storage systems.