On the response of 500 gal propane tanks to a 25% engulfing fire

This paper presents detailed data on the thermal response of two 500 gal ASME code propane tanks that were 25% engulfed in a hydrocarbon fire. These tests were done as part of an overall test programme to study thermal protection systems for propane-filled railway tank-cars.

The fire was generated using an array of 25 liquid propane-fuelled burners. This provided a luminous fire that engulfed 25% of the tank surface on one side. The intent of these tests was to model a severe partially engulfing fire situation.

The paper presents data on the tank wall and lading temperatures and tank internal pressure. In the first test the wind reduced the fire heating and resulted in a late failure of the tank at 46 min. This tank failed catastrophically with a powerful boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion (BLEVE). In the other test, the fire heating was very severe and steady and this tank failed very quickly in 8 min as a finite rupture with massive two-phase jet release. The reasons for these different outcomes are discussed. The different failures provide a range of realistic outcomes for the subject tank and fire condition.     

The boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion

The boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion (BLEVE) has existed for a long time and for most of this time it has been cloaked in mystery. Several theories have been put forward to explain this very energetic event but none have been proven. This paper describes a series of tests that have recently been conducted to study this phenomenon.

The study involved ASME code automotive propane tanks with nominal capacities of 400 litres. The tanks were exposed to a combination of pool and/or torch fires. These fire conditions led to thermal ruptures, and in some cases these ruptures resulted in BLEVEs. The variables in the tests were the pressure-relief valve setting, the tank wall thickness, and the fire condition.

In total, 30 tests have been conducted, of which 22 resulted in thermal ruptures. Of those tanks that ruptured, 11 resulted in what we call BLEVEs. In this paper, we have defined a BLEVE as the explosive release of expanding vapour and boiling liquid following a catastrophic tank failure. Non-BLEVEs involved tanks that ruptured but which only resulted in a prolonged jet release.

The objective of this study was to investigate why certain tank ruptures lead to a BLEVE rather than a more benign jet-type release. Data are presented to show how wall temperature, wall thickness, liquid temperature and fill level contribute to the BLEVE process.     

An experimental study of an LPG tank at low filling level heated by a remote wall fire

This paper describes an experimental study of 2300 L pressure vessels exposed to remote fire heating by a natural gas fuelled wall fire simulator. The tanks were filled to 15% capacity with commercial liquid propane. The flame intensity and distance were varied to study the effect of different heating levels on the tank and its lading.The fire simulator is first characterized with tests including fire thermocouples, radiative flux meters and thermal imaging. With the appropriate positioning of a target tank it is possible to get very realistic fire heat fluxes at the tank surface.Three tests were conducted with the 2300 L tanks filled to 15% capacity with propane. The tanks were positioned at three different distances from the wall fire resulting in measured average peak heat flux at the tank surfaces ranging between 24 and 43 kW m^?2. The data shows rapid rise in vapour space wall temperatures, significant temperature stratification in the vapour space, and moderate rate of pressure rise. These results provide excellent data for the validation of computer models used to predict the response of pressure vessels exposed to moderate heating from a remote fire.     

Fire tests on defective tank-car thermal protection systems

Many railway tank-cars carrying hazardous materials are thermally protected from fire impingement by thermal insulation and a steel jacket applied to the outside of the tank-car shell. Over time, it is possible that the thermal insulation will sag, rip, degrade, or be crushed under the steel jacket. A thermographic technique to determine whether or not a tank has insulation deficiencies has been developed, but it is necessary to determine which thermal deficiencies do not affect a tank’s survivability in a fire and which thermal deficiencies must be repaired. In order to develop a guideline in assessing thermal defects, a thermal model and experimental data would be beneficial.A series of fire tests were performed on a quarter-section tank-car mock-up to assist in developing a guideline and to provide validation data for a thermal model. Twelve fire tests, with constant, credible, simulated pool fire conditions, were performed on the tank-car mock-up with various insulation deficiencies. An infrared thermal imaging camera was used to measure the tank wall temperature. The thermal images were useful in determining the temperature profiles across the defects at different times and the transient temperature behaviour at different locations.It was seen that the properly installed thermal protection system significantly reduced the heat transfer from the fire to the tank wall. It was also seen that the steel jacket alone (i.e. 100% defect) acted as a radiation shield and provided a significant level of protection. With small defects, it was observed that the surrounding protected material provided a cooling effect by thermal conduction. A square defect greater than about 40 cm on each side should be considered significant, because unlike smaller defects, there is little benefit from the surrounding material as far as the peak defect temperature is concerned.     

Scale considerations for fire testing of pressure vessels used for dangerous goods transportation

Fire protection of pressure vessels for transport and storage of dangerous goods is an active topic of research around the world. In many cases, organizations are conducting theoretical analysis followed by fire testing of thermal protection systems to determine how long they delay thermally induced failure, or if they eliminate failure. In most recent cases the organizations chose to do small scale fire testing because of the obvious cost savings.The question then is – are small scale experiments representative of highway tank truck and rail tank car scales? This paper discusses the scale issues involved. It goes on to show how identical fire heating conditions can give dramatically different failure times and modes of failure for small and large scale tanks if the conditions are not truly similar.     

Pressure and temperature increase of LPG in a thermally coated pressure vessel exposed to fire: Experimental and model results

Damage caused by incidents with transport tanks with compressed liquified gas is amongst the most extreme that can be encountered with transport vessels. This is particularly the case with the Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion (BLEVE), which may occur if such a tank is exposed to fire for a prolonged period. Therefore, the local Dutch LPG transport sector adopted a thermally insulating tank coating as a ‘standard outfit’ for their tank trailers, with the aim to delay a BLEVE for a sufficiently long period for emergency services to take appropriate measures and for people near the accident location to be evacuated. On a European scale however, no consensus has been reached on the cost-benefit of such measures.With the current drive towards “greener” and renewable energy sources, this issue has regained attention with alternative fuels such as LNG, CNG and Hydrogen and a need was felt for (better) theoretical models and experimental data concerning the behavior of transport tanks carrying these substances.In this paper a new tank thermal (equilibrium) model is described to predict pressure and temperature behavior of a multi layered, thermally insulated tank containing a compressed liquified gas exposed to heat. Results are compared with data of three bonfire experiments, in which 3 m³ tanks, filled for ca. 50% with LPG were exposed to fire. A good match between modelled and experimental pressure and temperature evolution in time could be obtained using a constant value for the thermal conductivity of the insulation layer. The modelling showed that the thermal insulation value is crucial for an accurate prediction of these parameters as well as the opening time for a pressure safety valve. As relevant temperatures may cover a very wide range (from cryogenic in LNG-tanks to over 1000 °C in a fire) knowledge of the thermal (and physical) behavior of the insulating layer over a large temperature range is essential.The same holds for the behavior of the PRV when subjected to fire. Extreme temperatures may also lead to deviating behavior from what is expected based on the initial settings.     

Fire and explosion risk assessment for large-scale oil export terminal

Now in Russian Federation and other countries large-scale oil terminals (volume of one tank exceeds 100 000 m³, total volume of tanks exceeds 300 000 m³) are designed and constructed. Therefore fire safety of such objects becomes a very important task, solution of which is hardly possible without detail fire risk assessment. This study is aimed to a solution of this problem. Potential, individual and social risks were calculated. The potential risk was defined as a frequency of occurrence of hazardous factors of fires and explosions in a given point of space (the so-called risk contours). The individual risk was defined as a frequency of injuring a given person by hazardous factors of fires and explosions. Time of presence of this person in hazardous zones (near the hazardous installation) is taken into account during calculations of the individual risk. Social risk was defined as a dependence of frequency of injuring a given number of people by hazardous factors of fires and explosions on this number. In practice the social risk is usually determined on injuring not less than 10 people.

The oil terminal under consideration includes the following main parts: crude oil storage consisting of three tanks of volume 100 000 m³ each, input crude oil pipeline of diameter 0.6 m, crude oil pumps, output crude oil pipeline of diameter 0.8 m, auxiliary buildings and facilities. The following main scenarios of tank fires have been considered: rim seal fire, pool fire on a surface of a floating roof, pool fire on a total cross-section surface of the tank, pool fire in a dyke, explosions in closed or semiclosed volumes. Fires and explosions in other parts of the terminal are also taken into account. Effects of escalation of accidents are considered.

Risk contours have been calculated both for the territory of the terminal and for the neighbouring space. The potential risk for the storage zone is near 10⁻⁴–10⁻⁵ year⁻¹, and at a distance 500 m from the terminal the potential risk values do not exceed 10⁻⁶ year⁻¹. The values of the individual risk for various categories of workers are in the range of 10⁻⁵–10⁻⁶ year⁻¹. Because of low number of the workers on the terminal and large distances to towns and villages the social risk value is negligible. These risk values are consistent with practice of the best oil companies, and fire hazard level of the terminal can be accepted as tolerable.     

Modelling breakdown of industrial thermal insulation during fire exposure

The aging of many of the installations in the oil and gas industry may increase the likelihood of loss of containment of flammable substances, which could lead to major accidents. Flame temperatures in a typical hydrocarbon fire may reach 1100–1200 °C, which are associated with heat flux levels between 250 and 350 kW/m². To limit or delay the escalation of an initial fire, passive fire protection (PFP) can be an effective barrier. Additionally, both equipment and piping may require thermal insulation for heat or cold conservation. Previous studies have investigated whether thermal insulation alone may protect the equipment for a required time period, e.g., until adequate depressurization is achieved. The present study entails the development of a numerical model for predicting the heat transport through a multi-layer wall of a distillation column exposed to fire. The outer surface is covered by stainless-steel weather protective cladding, followed by PFP, thermal insulation, and finally an inner column of carbon steel of variable thicknesses. The model for the breakdown of thermal insulation is based on observed dimensional changes and independent measurements of the thermal conductivity of the insulation after heat treatment. The calculated temperature profiles of thermally insulated carbon steel during fire exposure are compared to fire test results for carbon steel with thicknesses of 16, 12, 6 and 3 mm. The model's predictions agree reasonably well with the experiments. The degradation of the thermal insulation at temperatures above 1100 °C limits its applicability as fire protection, especially for low carbon-steel thickness. However, the model predicts that adding a 10-mm layer of more heat-resistant insulation (PFP) inside the fire-exposed cladding may considerably extend the time to breakdown of the thermal insulation.     

池火灾热辐射下的最小安全距离

防火间距是石油化工企业平面设计中的一个重要参数 ,笔者旨在从流体力学角度研究池火灾发生情况下邻罐之间最小安全距离 ,从而给防火间距的制定提供依据。辐射是储罐区池火灾的主要传热方式 ,作者对池火灾形状以及介质辐射吸收性质进行了适当的简化 ,用CFD软件Fluent对丙烷液化烃储罐池火灾热辐射进行了数值模拟。模拟结果表明对于锰钢材料、内径为 1 2 4 1 0mm液化烃压力储罐 ,稳态池火灾情况下 ,相邻两储罐之间的最小安全距离为 1 5m。     

PPH (potassium polyacrylate & hectorite) composite materials – A new fire accident emergency method for thermal protection of adjacent tanks

When a chemical tank fire happens in a storage area, it is very important to protect adjacent tanks so as to decrease fire accident losses. In this paper, a new thermal protection method was put forward based on a PPH (potassium polyacrylate & hectorite) thermal insulation composite material spraying on an adjacent tank under fire. Firstly, the PPH material was prepared successfully by a polymerization reaction of potassium acrylate, hectorite, NaHSO₃ and (NH₄)₂S₂O₈. Secondly, thermal insulation performance of the PPH material was characterized by heat transfer process at high incident heat flux using cone calorimeter. The results show that thermal insulation performance of the PPH material is affected by a content change of (NH₄)₂S₂O₈, NaHSO₃ and hectorite in formulations. The content of (NH₄)₂S₂O₈ 0.14 wt%, NaHSO₃ 1.38 wt% and hectorite 1.4 wt% was an optimum formulation ratio to obtain best thermal insulation performance. Finally, possible thermal insulation mechanisms of the PPH material were presented using SEM, TG and TG-IR techniques. One of the thermal insulation mechanisms is the incident heat flux absorbed by water evaporation from the PPH material. Another is the thermal protection of the char formed from the PPH material at high incident thermal radiation, which can prevent heat and mass transfer.     

大型原油商业储备油库火灾危险性数值模拟分析

石油储备油库多向大型化、复杂化方向发展,发生事故时扑救非常困难。为了深入探讨巨型油罐火灾发展趋势与规律、事故危害后果,结合宁夏惠安堡原油商业储备油库这一工程实例,采用基于大涡模拟的FDS模型作为模拟计算平台,对巨型油罐火灾的燃烧过程进行数值模拟计算。通过分析计算,得到烟气分布、温度分布、热辐射强度分布等火灾过程参数的变化趋势,以及在有风和无风状态下着火罐对相邻油罐的影响,探讨现行建设工程消防技术标准就储罐防火间距、火灾时对邻近罐体冷却设计要求运用于巨型储油罐时的消防安全状况,为巨型储油罐消防安全科学合理设计提供理论依据。     

Thermal interaction analysis in pipeline systems: A case study

The assessment of the consequences of high pressure releases of flammable gases is a fundamental requirement for the safe design and operation of industrial installations, plants and pipework. A scenario of interest concerns a high pressure jet-fire following the ignition of a gas jet release which results in a thermal loading to the surroundings and possibly leads to accident escalation.

In the present paper, a case study is presented: two parallel-laid natural gas pipelines have been considered, the accidental scenarios which may possibly occur as a consequence of a pipeline failure have been discussed and the thermal effects caused by the jet-fire developing from different rupture sizes have been assessed.

Three scenarios have been analyzed, considering the pipelines being within a highly congested area: (i) large failure and vertical jet with detached flame; (ii) small failure with jet fire directly impinging on the parallel pipeline; (iii) small failure with pipeline engulfed within fire.

Once the temperature gradient through the pipeline wall has been found, the stresses deriving from pressure load and steel differential expansion have been analytically calculated and compared with the yielding stresses at the temperature achieved by the pipeline wall.

In the first scenario the pipeline is able to resist without major problems; in the second case the pipeline rupture is likely to occur; in the third scenario the pipeline resists to the applied loads but with a low margin to yielding.

It is understood that the analysis results are very much dependent on the utilized hypotheses, therefore a sensitivity analysis was performed in order to assess the variation of the results as a function of the variation of problem data; this analysis identifies the large influence of the parameters on the final result.     

基于热-结构耦合分析的液化石油气储罐失效预警判定*

为研究火灾中球罐应力场分布情况,找到球罐失效破裂条件,以液化石油气为研究对象,基于球罐稳态热响应,通过ANSYS热-结构耦合有限元分析法进行研究。结果表明:充装率85%的液化石油气球罐最高温度部位出现在气相区,约619.66 ℃;最大应力值出现在气液交界处,约615.18 MPa;得到球罐破裂失效时温度值和应力值,并设置2次预警值。研究结果可为液化石油气储罐失效预警提供参考和判定依据。     

Coupling effects of the explosion shock wave and heat radiation on the dynamic response of a fixed-roof tank

The occurrence of leakage in large tank farms or oil deposits can lead to fire or explosion accidents. Coupling effects of fire and explosion loadings can cause considerably more damage to adjacent tanks or buildings than either loading individually does. In this study, the combined loadings of the explosion shock wave and heat radiation from a pool fire on a neighboring empty fixed-roof tank were numerically investigated. The effects of the explosion shock wave intensity and relative height of the explosion center [the ratio of the height of the explosion center to the height of the tank (h_r)] were analyzed. The results indicate that tanks damaged by explosion shock waves have decreased fire resistance and critical buckling temperature. Moreover, the thermal buckling deformation of the predamaged tank largely depends on the explosion shock wave. With an increase in the explosion shock wave intensity or a decrease in h_r, the explosion shock wave has greater influence on the fire resistance of the tank, and the critical buckling temperature decreases. This paper can provide an understanding of the dynamics of a tank under explosion shock wave loading, and of the critical failure criterion and failure modes of a target tank under the coupled loading of the explosion shock wave and an adjacent pool fire.     

环氧丙烷储罐空气泡沫灭火试验研究

环氧丙烷为低沸点水溶性可燃液体,由于其饱和蒸汽压大,灭火困难,此前,国内外未对环氧丙烷进行过大型工程应用灭火试验研究。为研究空气泡沫对环氧丙烷储罐的灭火性能,分别对环氧丙烷进行了0．25m^2油盘探索性试验、1．73m^2油盘泡沫灭火剂选型试验和直径3．5m储罐工程应用灭火试验。试验结果表明,空气泡沫难以扑灭环氧丙烷储罐火灾,在直径3．5m储罐上,虽然采用了灭火性能较好的泡沫液,且使用了较大的供给强度和较长的供给时问,但仍难灭火。在试验基础上,对环氧丙烷储罐的消防要求提出了建议。     

Improved models of failure time for atmospheric tanks under the coupling effect of multiple pool fires

Fire accidents of chemical installations may cause domino effects in atmospheric tank farms, where a large amount of hazardous substances are stored or processed. Pool fire is a major form of fire accidents, and the thermal radiation from pool fire is the primary hazard of domino accidents. The coupling of multiple pool fires is a realistic and important accident phenomenon that enhances the propagation of domino accidents. However, previous research has mostly focused on the escalation of domino accidents induced by a single pool fire. To overcome the drawback, in this study, the failure of a storage tank under the coupling effect of multiple pool fires was studied in view of spatial and temporal synergistic process. The historical accident statistics indicated that the accident scenario of two-pool fires accounted for 30.6% in pool fires. The domino accident scenario involving three tanks is analyzed, and the typical layout of tanks is isosceles right triangle based on Chinese standard “GB50341-2014”. The thermal response and damage of a target tank heated by pool fires were numerically investigated. The volume of 500 m³, 3000 m³, 5000 m³ and 10000 m³ were selected. Flame temperature was obtained by FDS, and then was input onto the finite element model. The temperature field and stress field of target tanks were simulated by ABAQUS. The results showed that the temperature rise rate of the target tanks under multiple pool fires was higher than that under a single pool fire. The failure time of the tank under the coupling effect of multiple fires was lower than that under the superposition of multiple fires without the first stage. The stress and yield strength were compared to judge the failure of the target tank. The model of failure time for the tank under the coupling effect of pool fires was established. Through the verification, the deviation of this model is 4.02%, which is better than the deviation of 15.76% with Cozzani's model.     

大型原油储罐火灾多米诺效应概率计算模型及应用

随着油品储罐区规模的不断扩大,近年来多储罐火灾事故呈上升趋势。现有的储罐防火间距是在以往事故经验的基础上设定的,通过罐组内的火灾多米诺效应概率计算,可从风险的角度为罐组内储罐防火间距的设定提供理论依据。通过综合考虑火灾环境下受辐射储罐失效时间和着火储罐火灾得到控制时间,确定了罐组内火灾多米诺效应的判定原则,并在火灾得到控制时间模型和储罐失效时间模型的基础上建立了火灾多米诺效应概率计算模型。以2万立外浮顶原油储罐为例进行模拟计算,得出在现行标准给出的防火间距下,发生罐组火灾多米诺效应的概率为3.94×10-8/a-1,属于可接受风险,为罐组内储罐的合理布局提供了理论依据。     

某储罐区火灾多米诺效应场景推演

化工园区中危险源众多,一旦发生事故很容易在整个园区内蔓延和发展.针对化工园区内储罐密集,容易引发连锁反应导致事故扩大的特点,利用FDS软件对储罐火灾场景进行数值模拟,根据储罐所受热辐射确定化工园区内储罐火灾最可能的事故发生序列,并引入基于设备失效前时间的机械设备故障概率模型对罐区内单个储罐的火灾风险进行研究,得到储罐区...     

太空环境下锂离子电池热失控与火灾的研究展望

综述了锂离子电池的热失控机理,介绍了由于电池内部电解液、电池隔膜和电极材料分解的链式热反应过程而引发的热失控和火灾现象。同时,讨论了锂离子电池在微重力太空环境中可能产生的烟黑浓度倍增,加速火蔓延,火焰喷射等极端火行为。进而探讨了开展锂离子电池的低压、落塔和抛物飞行等地面实验模拟太空微重力燃烧的方法可行性,建立数值模型预测太空微重力环境下锂离子电池热失控临界条件与火灾行为的必要性,以及如何通过基础研究科学地指导空间站电池热管理和消防系统的设计。     

High-temperature stress-rupture data for the analysis of dangerous goods tank-cars exposed to fire

This paper contains tension and stress-rupture test data on sample railroad tank-car steels at room temperature and temperatures between 500 and 720 °C. The paper describes the test facility, applicable standards, and procedures that were followed during the tests of tension and stress rupture. The paper also contains a simple correlation for the data and gives examples of how it can be used to predict tank failure times when exposed to fire heating.The stress-rupture testing was conducted at constant load (tensile force) conditions. A sample was heated to a specified temperature and the load was applied. The time to failure was then recorded. This testing was needed due to a general lack of available data for the high-temperature stress rupture of tank-car steels. These data are needed for the purposes of predicting tank failure when tank-cars are exposed to heating by fire. The steel samples were obtained from a recent train derailment in Ontario, Canada, and the steel samples included both new and older steels. Samples were cut in both the hoop and longitudinal directions to see if the stress-rupture properties were isotropic.Excellent data were obtained with very little data scatter in each sample. The results show that stress-rupture properties vary from sample to sample. Some older steels were as good as new steels, and some were not. However, all samples were nearly isotropic when it came to high-temperature stress rupture.