Numerical analysis of toxic cloud generation and dispersion: A case study of the ethylene oxide spill

The present study examined the accidental spill of ethylene oxide, and a sensitivity analysis of the corresponding consequences was conducted using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A validation of the gas dispersion CFD model against the experimental data sets included in the model evaluation protocol (MEP) was performed. The effect of the variability of the wind velocity on the extension of the hazardous areas and pool evaporation characteristics was evaluated. Additionally, the mitigation effects of the dike walls surrounding a spill were discussed. CFD simulation results have shown that the mitigation effect of dike walls is determined by their influence on both gas dispersion and pool evaporation and depends strongly on wind velocity in terms of toxic impact distances.     

Experimental study of the evaporation of spreading liquid nitrogen

The investigation of cryogenic liquid pool spreading is an essential procedure to assess the hazard of cryogenic liquid usage. There is a wide range of models used to describe the spreading of a cryogenic liquid pool. Many of these models require the evaporation velocity, which has to be determined experimentally because the heat transfer process between the liquid pool and the surroundings is too complicated to be modeled. In this experimental study, to measure the evaporation velocity when the pool is spreading, liquid nitrogen was continuously released onto unconfined concrete ground. Almost all of the reported results are based on a non-spreading pool in which cryogenic liquid is instantaneously poured onto bounded ground for a very short period of time. For the precise measurement of pool spreading and evaporation weight with time, a cone-type funnel was designed to achieve a nearly constant liquid nitrogen release rate during discharge. Specifically, three nozzles with nominal flow rates of 3.4 × 10⁻² kg/s, 5.6 × 10⁻² kg/s and 9.0 × 10⁻² kg/s were used to investigate the effect of the release rate on the evaporation velocity. It is noted that information about the release rate is not necessary to measure the evaporation velocity in case of the non-spreading pool. A simultaneous measurement of the pool location using thermocouples and of the pool mass using a digital balance was carried out to measure the evaporation velocity and the pool radius. A greater release flow rate was found to result in a greater average evaporation velocity, and the evaporation velocity decreased with the spreading time and the pool radius.     

Modeling the vapor source term associated with the spill of LNG into a sump or impoundment area

The recent publication of evaluation protocols for vapor source term models and vapor dispersion models have influenced the modeling approaches that can be used for approval of new and expansion projects at LNG receiving terminals. In the past few years the scientific basis of integral vapor source term models has been questioned with growing concerns regarding their validity. In this paper, the shallow water equations (SWEs) were solved to study the characteristics of the evaporating LNG pool associated with a constant flow rate spill of LNG into a concrete sump. In the early stages of pool spreading, the leading edge thickness profile of the SWE model scales with the square root of the distance from the leading edge as the pool spreads. After the edge of the pool reaches the wall, the reflected wave forms a hydraulic jump that travels back towards the center of the pool at a speed that is considerably slower than the initial spreading of the pool. Once the hydraulic jump reaches the center, the pool assumes a nearly flat free surface for the rest of the spill. The pool spreading and the rate of evaporation from the SWEs were then compared to the solution provided by the integral model, PHAST. The two approaches were found to agree well with one another. The SWE model was also used to demonstrate the influence of an elevated spill source. With an elevated source, the LNG pool spreads faster, significantly increasing the initial rate of vaporization and peak vaporization rate. This increase in the initial rate of vaporization could lead to an increase in the vapor cloud hazard distance. The SWE model was also used to demonstrate the influence of an inclined sump floor in the shape of an inverted cone where the spilling LNG accumulates in the low vertex of the cone. Inclined sump floors can be used to significantly reduce the cumulative evaporation, making them attractive as a possible mitigation approach in cases where a containment sump is located close to a property boundary.     

泄漏液池动态蒸发过程模型研究与分析

指出了现有液体蔓延和蒸发模型的不足,根据质量守恒定律,推导建立了动态液池蒸发模型.在详细分析液池蔓延和蒸发过程的基础上,结合苯的泄漏,利用新建立的数学模型对苯的蔓延和蒸发进行了模拟分析.     

Pool evaporation: Experimental tests at medium-scale with gasoline

Pool evaporation is a major source of flammable vapour clouds. Predicting the evaporation rate of a liquid hydrocarbon pool is therefore a key issue of dispersion modelling for safety concerns. This paper presents small- and medium-scale experiments of pool evaporation carried out with liquid hydrocarbons (pentane, heptane), hydrocarbon “gasoline-like” mixtures and gasoline. Liquid mass loss was measured and the evaporation rate deduced with its evolution in time. Other observations are highlighted, regarding the evolution of liquid temperatures, mixture compositions, and scale effects like the influence of pool length on surface evaporation rate. Comparisons with well-known correlations are then shown. The authors finally suggest a new semi-empirical correlation with a set of parameters fitted on the performed experiments.     

过程液氯贮槽装置封闭厂房及事故氯吸收塔联用安全效用分析

分析、设立液氯贮槽液相泄漏的几种典型事故情景,并利用液相泄漏、液池蒸发、重气扩散和人员中毒死亡概率等模型对比研究封闭厂房及事故氯吸收塔等安全措施对液氯贮槽液相泄漏扩散中毒后果的影响,给出不同事故情景下液氯泄漏速率、液池半径、液池蒸发速率、室外氯气中毒死亡概率等事故后果特征值。对封闭厂房及事故氯吸收塔安全效用进行定量分析和比较研究。结果表明,液氯贮槽的封闭厂房对抑制液氯泄漏扩散中毒事故后果效用明显;事故氯吸收塔能消除液氯贮槽微小孔泄漏所对应的小事故情景,还能对封闭厂房最严重泄漏事故后果起到初期削峰作用。显然,封闭厂房及事故氯吸收塔联用可以降低液氯贮槽事故影响后果,具有良好安全效用。     

The effect of turbulence on the rate of evaporation of LNG on water

The present study provides new measurements of the rate of evaporation of cryogenic liquids, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid nitrogen (LN₂), floating on a water surface with different levels of turbulence intensity. The turbulent water surface is generated with an upward-pointing submerged jet with controlled jet velocity, an approach which has often been used in studies of free-surface turbulence. Direct measurements of the rate of evaporation were carried out for different pool thicknesses and turbulence intensities of the water surface. These tests reveal a strong dependence of the evaporation rate on the turbulence intensity, as well as a dependence on the thickness of the cryogenic liquid layer above the water surface. Models of LNG spills on water currently use a single rate of evaporation; these findings show that this approach is inadequate. Future models should incorporate the water turbulence intensity, and possibly the LNG spill thickness for improved accuracy.     

LNG池火热辐射模型及安全距离影响因素研究

重点对LNG池火热辐射模型,模型应用方式,以及热辐射安全距离的影响因素做了详细研究,给出池火热辐射模型采用及安全距离计算的方法。对常用的热辐射计算模型(点源模型、LNGFire3和PoFM ISE模型)加以介绍,并对3种模型做了对比研究。PoFM ISE模型充分考虑大池火直径时不完全燃烧的因素以及风速对火焰高度的影响,建议当风速大于1.5 m/s,池火直径大于20 m时采用。同时,进一步研究影响LNG池火热辐射安全距离的各种因素,包括池火直径、风速、环境温度和湿度,从而得出不同条件下池火热辐射安全距离的要求。     

Development of heat transfer and evaporation model of LNG covered by Hi-Ex foam

Natural gas is a kind of clean, efficient green energy source, which is used widely. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is produced by cooling natural gas to −161 °C, at which it becomes the liquid. Once LNG was released, fire or explosion would happen when ignition source existed nearby. The high expansion foam (Hi-Ex foam) is believed to quickly blanket on the top of LNG spillage pool and warm the LNG vapor to lower the vapor cloud density at the ground level and raising vapor buoyancy. To identify the physical structure after it contacted with LN₂ and to develop heat transfer model, the small-scale field test with liquid nitrogen (LN₂) was designed. In experiment, three layers including frozen ice layer, frozen Hi-Ex layer and soft layer of Hi-Ex foam were observed at the steady state. By characterizing physical structure of the foam, formulas for calculating the surface of single foam bubble and counting foam film thickness were deduced. The micro heat transfer and evaporation model between cryogenic liquid and Hi-Ex foam was established. Indicating the physical structure of the frozen ice layer, there were a certain number of icicles below it. The heat transfer and evaporation mathematical model between the frozen ice layer and LNG was derived. Combining models above with the heat transfer between LNG, ground and cofferdam, the heat transfer and evaporation mathematical model of LNG covered by Hi-Ex foam was developed eventually. Finally, LN₂ evaporation rate calculated by this model was compared with the measured evaporation rate. The calculated results are 1.2–2.1 times of experimental results, which were acceptable in engineering and proved the model was reliable.     

不同通风条件下柴油池火的实验研究

为了分析不同通风条件对柴油池火燃烧特性及引燃特性的影响,进行205 mm带水垫层柴油池火的引燃实验,通过对池火燃料的质量损失速率、火焰高度、温度及热辐射等的监测,分析通风环境中柴油池火的热传递规律。结果表明:当风速为0.5 m/s时,火灾进入旺盛阶段的时间提前,火焰平均温度最高;当风速为1 m/s时,风速的增加导致油池火的质量损失速率增加,位于主火源下风向的待引燃火源获得的热辐射通量增大,火灾旺盛阶段火焰的平均温度降低,火焰高度降低,下风向相邻油盘引燃的时间提前;1 m/s情况下,205 mm带水垫层柴油池火的安全间距需增加到1D以上;通风环境对池火发展及蔓延的影响是显著的,应适当加大下风向可燃物的安全间距,合理选择通风排烟风速,优化火灾应急救援策略。     

Configuration predictions of large liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pool fires using CFD method

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has potential pool fire risks due to its flammability. The configuration of pool fires plays a significant role when applying the solid flame model or point source model to assess the risks from heat radiation. However, no existing correlations can precisely predict the configuration of large LPG (100% propane) pool fires. To enhance the fundamental understanding on how pool diameter and wind velocity can influence the configuration of large LPG pool fires, an experimentally validated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model is employed to simulate fires using different burning rate models. Fire temperature profiles, flame heights, and flame tilts predicted by the CFD model were compared with empirical models and experimental data. Accordingly, new correlations for flame height and flame tilt as functions of pool diameter D and wind velocity u_w have been developed. The comparisons demonstrate that the new correlations have the best overall accuracy in the prediction of flame height and tilt for large LPG pool fires under different conditions (10 m ≤ D ≤ 20 m, 0 ≤ u_w ≤ 3 m·s⁻¹).     

障碍物后池火与水喷淋相互作用的数值模拟

采用大涡模拟方法数值模拟了障碍物后池火与水喷淋的相互作用问题，研究目的是探讨水喷淋对障碍物后池火的控制和抑制的有效性，以及障碍物对流动特性和温度场的影响。文中采用低马赫数近似下三维可压缩滤波形式的Navier—Stokes方程和组分方程进行有限差分数值求解，燃烧过程中所产生的热释放采用携带燃烧反应热的Lagrangian粒子(热元模型)来模拟。文中数值模拟了风洞内障碍物后热源产生的热气流及其与水喷淋的相互作用，并探讨了在有无水喷淋情况下的温度场和速度场特性，以及喷水装置位置对温度场的影响。     

太阳辐射对纯液体蒸发行为影响的实验研究

通过蒸发实验,考察了太阳辐射对液体苯、甲苯和乙醇蒸发行为的影响.实验结果表明,苯和甲苯表面温度随时间呈现出先降低后升高的趋势,而乙醇则呈现出先降低后恒定的趋势,且环境风速越大,这种变化趋势就越明显.液体表面温度的变化不但与太阳辐射强度以及环境风速的大小有关,还与液体本身的物理性质(如热容、蒸发潜热和饱和蒸气压)有关.因此,在预测液体的蒸发速率时,必须考虑太阳辐射或周围热辐射源对液体表面温度的影响.     

有风条件下航空煤油池火燃烧特性的实验研究

在全尺寸热释放速率实验台的基础上,搭建有风条件池火实验平台,开展了不同风速条件下的航空煤油池火燃烧实验,实验所用正方形油盘的边长分别为0.2m、0.3m和0.4m,风速范围为0 m.s-1至4.99 m.s-1。实验结果表明,风速为0 m.s-1时航空煤油池火的燃烧速率随油盘尺寸增大而单调递增,实验值与理论值的差距随风速增大而减小。实验所得.m″windy/.ms″till与v/D呈线性关系,与前人结论一致,但实验所得参数与前人值不同。同尺寸油盘池火的热释放速率峰值来临时间随风速增大有减小的趋势;不同尺寸油池火的燃烧速率随风速增加而单调递增。对不同尺寸油池火的热释放速率峰值随风速的变化规律作了讨论。     

Impact of wind on in-situ burning behavior of spilled oil on open water

Spilled oil may cause serious environmental pollution and ecological destruction. Thus, an efficient oil spill response is essential to reduce and minimize the impacts seen from an oil spill. In-situ burning (ISB) has been proven to be one of the most convenient and efficient treatment methods for oil spills on sea. When in-situ burning operation is carried out on sea, the wind is usually available. Spilled oil pool fire flame will be blown to tilt with an angle from the vertical direction and the flame length will be stretched. This effect of flame on downstream will be significantly enhanced. It may even cause the burning of spilled oil out of control or hazard the operators near site. Therefore, it is meaningful to study the burning behavior of oil pool fire on open water under wind.A small-scale oil pool fire on open water experiment system was designed, which could simulate the boundary conditions of sea surface ISB. A series of experiments were carried out to study the effects of oil pool diameter, oil layer thickness and wind speed on fire flame length and flame tilt angle. Flame characteristics and temperature of burning system were recorded. This study observes burning behavior to evolve from short pool fire to long declining phase which transient through boilover stage. Dimensionless flame length in pool fire stage increases with wind speed. As expected the flame tilt is strongly influenced by wind speed, tilt angle increase with wind speed. The observed experimental behavior is captured as improvement in the flame length and flame tilt angle models.This study helped better understanding fire behavior in evolving environmental conditions, and the most importantly developed model would help guide better assessment of fire mitigation strategies.     

大型原油储罐泄漏隔堤池火灾后果研究

为了研究储罐大孔泄漏后可能产生的隔堤局部面状液池火灾,以10万立方大型原油储罐为例,采用计算流体力学软件FLUENT和火灾模拟软件FDS计算储罐在真实泄漏场景下的液池区域,模拟发生隔堤池火的分布特征及对临罐热辐射影响。研究结果表明:储罐原油泄漏后将在隔堤内形成相对稳定面积的液池,在储罐不同方位处泄漏形成的液池面积与储罐壁距雨水收集槽长度相关;储罐正下方的隔堤池火对储罐造成的热辐射极大;风对临罐受到的池火热辐射强度影响明显,指向罐组中心方向的来风对临罐热辐射强度影响较大。     

A new categorization of release models using a semi-analytic solution

The spread of cryogenic liquid due to a limited period of release is investigated for the first time to clarify the unclear conventional concept regarding two release types: continuous and instantaneous release. The physical phenomenon is described by equations involving the volume, radius and height of the liquid pool, and there are three governing parameters: the evaporation rate per unit area, a release time, and a spill volume. As a result of the perturbation solutions, the combined model, which consists of the continuous model and the subsequent instantaneous model, is necessary for a large spill source rate, whereas the continuous model is only required for a small spill source rate. This combined release model is more realistic than the instantaneous release model, and it is shown that the combined model and the continuous model are clearly distinguished in the coordinate system of the release time and the spill volume using the analytical feature of the perturbation solution.     

水平风对不同液位深度酒精池火火焰长度的影响

通过改变风速、液位深度的大小,研究边界条件变化对酒精池火火焰长度的影响。研究结果表明：在无量纲液位深度小于一定值时,酒精池火的火焰长度会随着风速的增加而增大,当无量纲液位深度较大时,油盘外部酒精池火的火焰长度基本为0。风速相同而液位深度不同时,酒精池火的火焰长度会随着液位深度的增大首先增大,而后逐渐减小。这主要是因为,液位深度较大时,燃料表面的供氧量降低导致燃烧效率降低,最终导致火焰长度的减小。