Validation of liquid nitrogen vaporisation rate by small scale experiments and analysis of the conductive heat flux from the concrete

The vaporisation of a liquid nitrogen pool spilled on concrete ground was investigated in small scale field experiments. The pool vaporisation rate and the heat transfer from the concrete ground were measured using a balance and a set of embedded heat flux sensors and thermocouples. The ability to predict the concrete's thermal properties based on these measurements was investigated. This work showed that a simple, one-dimensional theoretical model, assuming heat conduction through a semi-infinite ground with ideal contact between the cryogenic liquid and the ground, commonly used to describe the heat transfer from a ground to the LNG, can be used to match the observed vaporisation rate. Though estimated parameters, thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity, do not necessary represent real values. Although the observed vaporization rate follows a linear trend, and thus can be well represented by the model, the overall model prediction seems to be overestimated. The temperature profile inside the concrete is slightly over-predicted at the beginning and under-predicted at later stage of the spill. This might be an effect of the dependence of the concrete's thermal properties on the temperature or may indicate an incorrect modelling and a varying temperature of the ground surface.     

Investigation of pool spreading and vaporization behavior in medium-scale LNG tests

A failure of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tanker can occur due to collision or rupture in loading/unloading lines resulting in spillage of LNG on water. Upon release, a spreading liquid can form a pool with rapid vaporization leading to the formation of a flammable vapor cloud. Safety analysis for the protection of public and property involves the determination of consequences of such accidental releases. To address this complex pool spreading and vaporization phenomenon of LNG, an investigation is performed based on the experimental tests that were conducted by the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center (MKOPSC) in 2007. The 2007 tests are a part of medium-scale experiments carried out at the Brayton Fire Training Field (BFTF), College Station. The dataset represents a semi-continuous spill on water, where LNG is released on a confined area of water for a specified duration of time. The pool spreading and vaporization behavior are validated using empirical models, which involved determination of pool spreading parameters and vaporization rates with respect to time. Knowledge of the pool diameter, pool height and spreading rate are found to be important in calculating the vaporization rates of the liquid pool. The paper also presents a method to determine the vaporization mass flux of LNG using water temperature data that is recorded in the experiment. The vaporization rates are observed to be high initially and tend to decrease once the pool stopped spreading. The results of the analysis indicated that a vaporization mass flux that is varying with time is required for accurate determination of the vaporization rate. Based on the data analysis, sources of uncertainties in the experimental data were identified to arise from ice formation and vapor blocking.     

Modeling of a cryogenic liquid pool boiling by CFD simulation

A boiling model is developed by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code to calculate the source term of a cryogenic liquid spill. The model includes the effect of the changing ground temperature on the vaporization rate of the cryogenic liquid. Simulations are performed for liquid nitrogen. The model can describe different boiling regimes (film, transition and nucleate). The heat flux calculated for each boiling regimes are compared to the experimental data from literature. The developed numerical model seems to have a good ability to predict the heat flux for the film boiling stage. Model development is still necessary to improve the prediction of the nucleate boiling regime. Overall, the approach shows very promising results to model the complex physical phenomena involved in in the vaporization of cryogenic liquid pool spilled on ground.     

Quantification of turbulence in cryogenic liquid using high speed flow visualization

A high speed flow visualization experiment was conducted to characterize the boiling induced turbulence when a cryogenic liquid is released on water. The advective transport of turbulent structures traversing through the liquid was captured and reconstructed using image processing software to obtain information on velocity components. The numerical results obtained from image processing were used to determine turbulence parameters like turbulent intensity, turbulent kinetic energy and eddy dissipation rate. An interesting aspect of the study was the formation of wavy structures called ‘thermals’ which were characteristic of turbulent convection. The thermals were found to act as a catalyst in increasing heat transfer and turbulence between water and cryogenic pool. The turbulent intensity was influenced by the turbulent velocity and had direct effects on the vaporization flux. Among the turbulence parameters, increase in turbulent kinetic energy resulted in faster vaporization of cryogenic liquid through enhanced mixing, whereas variations in the eddy dissipation rate had weak dependence on vaporization. Additionally, the initial height of cryogenic liquid was also found to strongly affect the vaporization mass flux.     

Modeling of pool spreading of LNG on land

This paper presents a source term model for estimating the rate of spreading of LNG and other cryogenic mixtures on unconfined land. The model takes into account the composition changes of a boiling mixture, the varying thermodynamic properties due to preferential boiling within the mixture and the effect of the various boiling regimes on conductive heat transfer. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine the relative effect of each of these phenomena on pool spread. The model is applied to continuous and instantaneous spills. The model is compared to literature experimental data on cryogenic pool spreading.     

螺旋隧道火灾特性小尺寸实验研究

为探明螺旋隧道火灾特性,防止人员高温伤害,基于Froude准则,搭建比例1∶67的小尺寸螺旋隧道实验模型,采用模型实验方法研究不同坡度和不同风速下螺旋隧道火灾温度分布规律及烟气蔓延特性。研究结果表明:低坡度条件下,螺旋隧道内高温区以火源为中点呈对称分布状态;随着坡度的增加,隧道内高温区逐渐向下游延伸,火源处拱顶下方温度呈现先增大后降低再升高的变化规律;无论是自然风还是机械纵向通风,新鲜冷空气的吹入对隧道温度的降低起到主导作用,且风速越大,温降幅度越大;随着隧道坡度和自然风速的增加,火羽流由竖直狭长型转变为燃烧不稳定的大截面火焰,同时坡度增加抑制了火灾烟气逆流,促进了烟气向火源下游的蔓延速度,大大提高了排烟的有效性,减少人员伤害。     

Experimental study and prediction of liquid nitrogen pool evaporation process on concrete surface

The vaporization rate of pool boiling process of a liquid nitrogen spilled on concrete surface was investigated by a visual experiment platform. The boiling curve for liquid nitrogen on concrete cooling process was obtained. The shapes of bubbles in three typical boiling regimes were observed. Based on the experimental results, the coefficients of the empirical formulas for nuclear boiling and film boiling are modified, and the empirical formulas for boiling of liquid nitrogen-concrete surfaces are obtained. Combined with the calculation formula of the non-steady-state semi-infinite one-dimensional heat conduction temperature, a coupled calculation model for the heat transfer and vaporization process of liquid pool on the liquid nitrogen-concrete surface is proposed. Application of this model can better predict the quality of liquid nitrogen vaporization.     

An experimental study on the burning rate of a continuously released n-heptane spill fire on an open water surface

Spill fires are common during oil product storage and transportation after a loss of containment. Since the burning fuel is moving and the fuel depth is quite shallow, the burning rate in a spill fire is different from that of a pool fire with a static burning zone. Unlike pool fires, which have been studied for decades and have well-established correlations for burning rate, research on spill fires is inadequate. In this paper, continuously released n-heptane spill fire experiments were conducted on open water surfaces with varying fuel discharge rates. The pool diameters were measured, and the spill fire burning rates were estimated based on a dynamic balance between fuel supply and combustion. The burning rates in n-heptane pool fires from the literature were reviewed and compared with the estimated burning rates in spill fires of the same dimension. The spill fire burning rate was found to be close to that in a pool fire during the initial burning phase but lower than that in a bulk burning pool fire and that in a “fuel-level-controlled” pool fire. The distinction between the burning rates of spill fires and pool fires is explained by the heat balance analysis of the fuel layer. A model for the spill fire burning rate was proposed accordingly. The results calculated with the presented model are closer to the measured data than those calculated with pool fire models.     

An experimental and modeling study of continuous liquid fuel spill fires on water

The spread of burning fuel spilled from oil product containers during offshore storage and transportation may cause large damage and trigger further accidents. Some analytical models already exist to predict the spread and burning behavior of liquid fuel spill fires, however, few experimental studies have been conducted to verify the model results. In this paper, continuous n-heptane spill fire experiments were conducted in a rectangular trench covered with water. The burning area, fuel spread rate, and thermal flux with different discharge flow rates and ignition delay times were investigated by both experimental and modeling means. The spill fire burning area, with 5 typical phases during burning, has a quasi-steady value which is directly proportional to the discharge rate but irrelevant to the ignition delay times. The steady burning rate, as the ratio of discharge rate over burning area, was estimated. A spread model was modified to simulate the spread of continuous liquid fuel spill fires in a one-dimensional channel, based on the balance between gravity and viscous forces. A cuboid solid flame model was used to compute the thermal flux from spill fires. The burning fuel spread and the heat flux calculated by the models agree with the experimental results.     

高温热表面油液蒸发的时变性热质传递模型与实验研究

针对高温热表面油液蒸发热质传递过程的时变性,考虑这一过程中的对流传质传热,建立了热环境作用下油液蒸发的热质传递模型方程,通过无量纲变换,求得空间浓度分布和温度场随时间的变化规律。以庚烷为试验对象,对高温热表面油液蒸发过程进行了实验研究。理论分析与实验表明:庚烷蒸发过程中,刘易斯数大于1,传热速率大于传质速率;蒸发导致的质量损失与时间平方根的成正比,与液面的面积成正比,且与质量扩散系数的平方根成正比,饱和蒸气浓度越大,蒸发速率也越大。油液蒸发计算结果与试验结果基本一致,表明了模型的有效性。