LPG球罐BLEVE过程中超压与热耦合效应模拟研究

为评估LPG球罐发生BLEVE过程中超压与热耦合效应对化工企业抗爆控制室和避难所选址的影响,采用TNO多能法数学模型计算冲击波超压,采用多源数学模型计算火球热辐射。编写MATLAB计算程序,并应用ANSYS模拟二者破坏效应的耦合作用。LPG球罐发生BLEVE过程中,爆炸冲击波的传播速度、持续时间和火球的传播速度、持续时间不同,爆炸冲击波主要在燃料高速抛散的初期形成,之后基本与火球脱离。分别模拟计算冲击波超压和火球热辐射对抗爆控制室和避难所的影响,结果表明：抗爆控制室选址只需考虑爆炸冲击波的影响;避难所选址需要考虑冲击波超压和火球热辐射作用双重影响。在研究基础上提出,LPG球罐附近人员逃生的避难所应设置在球罐防火堤外紧邻防火堤处的地下,应具有抗震、防渗、防火、防中毒窒息等功能。人员应在BLEVE发生前进入避难所才能逃生。     

Numerical study of medium to large scale BLEVE for blast wave prediction

So far, the prediction of blast wave generated from the Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion (BLEVE) has been already broadly investigated. However, only a few validations of these blast wave prediction models have been made, and some well-established methods are available to predict BLEVE overpressure in the open space only. This paper presents numerical study on the estimation of the near-field and far-field blast waves from BLEVEs. The scale effect is taken into account by conducting two different scale BLEVE simulations. The expansion of pressurized vapour and evaporation of liquid in BLEVE are both modelled by using CFD method. Two approaches are proposed to determine the initial pressure of BLEVE source. The vapour evaporation and liquid flashing are simulated separately in these two approaches. Satisfactory agreement between the CFD simulation results and experimental data is achieved. With the validated CFD model, the results predicted by the proposed approaches can be used to predict explosion loads for better assessment of explosion effects on structures.     

BLEVE火球热辐射及其影响评价模型介绍

高压液化易燃、易爆化学品储罐易发生BLEVE,引起热辐射,会造成周围人员伤亡和设备损坏.介绍了BLEVE火球热辐射及其影响模型,通过该模型可以计算BLEVE火球的尺寸、持续时间、升空高度、热辐射通量及预测暴露在BLEVE火球热辐射通量下人的致死概率.     

Blast overpressures from medium scale BLEVE tests

The measured blast overpressures from recent tests involving boiling liquid expanding vapour explosions (BLEVE) has been studied. The blast data came from tests where 0.4 and 2 m³ ASME code propane tanks were exposed to torch and pool fires. In total almost 60 tanks were tested, and of these nearly 20 resulted in catastrophic failures and BLEVEs. Both single and two-step BLEVEs were observed in these tests. This paper presents an analysis of the blast overpressures created by these BLEVEs. In addition, the blast overpressures from a recent full scale fire test of a rail tank car is included in the analysis.The results suggest that the liquid energy content did not contribute to the shock overpressures in the near or far field. The liquid flashing and expansion does produce a local overpressure by dynamic pressure effects but it does not appear to produce a shock wave. The shock overpressures could be estimated from the vapour energy alone for all the tests considered. This was true for liquid temperatures at failure that were below, at and above the atmospheric superheat limit for propane. Data suggests that the two step type BLEVE produces the strongest overpressure. The authors give their ideas for this observation.The results shown here add some limited evidence to support previous researchers claims that the liquid flashing process is too slow to generate a shock. It suggests that liquid temperatures at or above the Tsl do not change this. The expansion of the flashing liquid contributes to other hazards such as projectiles, and close in dynamic pressure effects. Of course BLEVE releases in enclosed spaces such as tunnels or buildings have different hazards.     

氨分解装置中液氨储罐火灾爆炸危险性分析

以某金属处理企业氨分解装置中液氨储罐罐区为例,对液氨泄漏后火灾爆炸事故及其伤害范围进行了研究,用池火、蒸气云爆炸和沸腾液体扩展蒸气爆炸模型进行计算分析,给出火灾、爆炸事故的人员伤害和财产损失范围。结果表明:围堤堤内池火或罐内池火时,罐区建构筑物内的汽化器、管道等设备会因直接过火或热辐射导致损坏,建筑内人员死亡,但难以波及罐区之外;蒸气云爆炸产生相当于1192.72kgTNT爆炸的当量,爆炸的后果严重,应重点防范,防范的重点为液氨泄漏、点火源;沸腾液体扩展蒸气爆炸的火球半径56.1m,持续时间8.7s,死亡半径27.2m,其源于储罐受热或系统突然失效,液体瞬时泄漏汽化并遇点火源而发生,具有突发性且后果严重,企业应高度重视并严格储罐及系统的定期检验与校验、密切关注系统的有效运行。     

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.     

火球热辐射后果计算动态模型的应用

为了精确地评估火球的热辐射后果,需要深入研究火球热负荷对影响区域暴露人员所造成的伤害.详细介绍了具有时间属性的火球热辐射动态模型,以实例描绘了火球直径、高度以及目标接受到的热通量等火球参数的动态变化规律.结果表明:具有时间属性的火球热辐射动态模型计算出的热辐射值小于静态模型计算的值,动态模型有可能更准确地描述火球参数的实际动态变化,进而合理地确定火球热辐射的人员伤亡区域,并为过热可燃液体容器的安全设计及风险分析提供一种新的后果评估技术及方法.     

Small scale experiments on boiling liquid expanding vapor explosions: Vessel over-pressure

The boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) is a type of physical explosion that has caused massive damage in the petrochemical industry. In this paper, a study has been made of the conditions that could lead to a BLEVE. A device was built to simulate the occurrence of suddenly initiated release through a top orifice. As there is some danger in using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the experiments, water was used as the test fluid. The change of pressure and temperature was measured during the experiment. It was determined that two pressure peaks result after the pressure is released: the first pressure peak seems to occur because of the vapor pressure caused by the swelled two-phase layer after the initial venting, the second pressure peak is possibly due to a dynamic impact or ‘liquid hammer’ and is maintained by bubbles collapse or something like cavitation at the surface of the inner wall of the head space that occurs with the ejection of two-phase flow.Liquid heights, orifice size, and the degree of liquid superheating all have differing influence on the magnitude of the measured over-pressure; the greater the degree of liquid superheat, the stronger the over-pressure; smaller opening areas delay and reduce the magnitude of the first over-pressure; at fill levels between 60% and 80%, the impact pressure appears more violent than with other fills.     

Case study: Assessment on large scale LPG BLEVEs in the 2011 Tohoku earthquakes

After the 2011 Tohoku earthquakes, several chemical and oil complexes on the Pacific Ocean shoreline of northeast Japan experienced massive losses. In Chiba, a refinery operated by Cosmo Oil lost 17 LPG storage vessels which were either heavily damaged or totally destroyed by fires and explosions in the refinery. These large vessels ranged in size from 1000 to 5000 m³. The estimated volume of LPG at the time of the incident was between 400 and 5000 m³ for each vessel. Five boiling liquid expanding vapor explosions (BLEVEs) of LPG occurred, resulting in huge fire balls measuring about 500 m in diameter.A BLEVE is defined as the explosive release of expanding vapor and boiling liquid when a container holding a pressure-liquefied gas fails catastrophically. It is thus important to estimate the physical properties of superheated liquids: the thermodynamic and transport properties, the intrinsic limits to superheating and depressurization, and the nature of thermodynamic paths. Also it is hoped to provide better understanding of the vessels designed, manufactured, installed, and operated to reduce or eliminate the probability that a sequence of events will result in BLEVE or loss of primary containment. Knowledge of these matters is still incomplete. The objective of this research is to estimate the significant BLEVE phenomenon in very large scale spherical vessels based on published information in Japan. There are some models predicting BLEVEs. However, it is essential to know if this is true for very large scales such as spheres since validation is usually rare to provide confidence in estimating the superheated liquids behaviors. To this end, comparing with the information on this event, the conditions in the five LPG vessels at the time of the BLEVE were determined in terms of: duration of vessel failure (time to BLEVE); mass fraction in the vessel with time; temperature distribution in the liquid and vapor region and pressure within the vessel (e.g. initial pressure and internal high-speed transient pressure during failure), by means of a computer program AFFTAC Analysis of Fire Effects on Tank Cars, which solves heat conduction, stress and a failure model of the tank, a thermodynamic model of its fluid contents, and a flow model for the lading flowing through the safety relief device. Subsequently, the consequences from the sphere BLEVE, such as the expected fireball diameter and duration and the expected blast overpressure produced by the BLEVE failures, are also subjects of active research. Here the blast using the methods of PHAST and SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering was calculated.Results suggest that methodologies here used gave reasonable estimations for such real and huge BLEVEs in a validated way, which may provide valuable guidance for risk mitigation strategy with regard to LPG facility in design, emergency planning, resiliency, operations, and risk management.     

可燃气体储罐区泄漏危险性定量分析

对位于某城市中心附近的可燃气体储罐区的气体泄漏危险性进行了分析,求出了下风向最大可燃范围和中毒范围.进行灵敏度分析以便识别风速、泄漏面积对泄漏危险性的影响.分析结果显示,风速、泄漏面积对泄漏危险性有显著影响.随着泄漏面积增大,下风向最大可燃范围增大;随着风速的增大,下风向最大可燃范围则减小.最后提出了若干安全措施的建议.     

工厂三维建模及其事故模拟

利用Microstation软件对某化工厂区进行三维建模,在考虑实际外界风向、风速,不同点火源位置等重要影响因素的条件下,运用计算流体动力学(CFD)软件FLACS,研究了有毒、易燃易爆的氯乙烯液化气体储罐安全阀气体泄漏和储罐底部物料管线液态氯乙烯的泄漏、蒸发、扩散和爆炸作用等过程,计算结果可以给出氯乙烯火灾、爆炸或扩散中毒等事故后果的影响范围和相关精确物理量。模拟结果表明,对于常温下的氯乙烯液化气体球罐,球罐安全阀泄漏后罐区及周边不会有燃烧或爆炸危险;而物料管线在特定的液相泄漏情景下,蒸发扩散的氯乙烯气云则有可能发生气云爆炸;但在弱约束条件下,爆炸冲击波作用比较微弱。该研究方法及其结果可以为石油化工企业选址、设计布局、安全规划、风险分析、应急救援及事故调查等提供更加准确的依据。     

冷冻堵漏法在危险化学品泄漏事故中的应用

为了研究液化气体泄漏冷冻堵漏的堵漏机制,运用流体力学、传热学等知识对液化石油气（LPG）储罐（槽罐）泄漏时泄漏口处产生局部低温的现象进行了研究,探讨了LPG液相泄漏和气相泄漏2种不同泄漏形式的低温效应。结果表明:液相泄漏时,泄漏口处温度下降程度与泄漏口面积成正比,且随着罐体内部压力的减小而减弱,推导出喷水冷冻堵漏的成冰时间公式;气相泄漏时,对罐内压力与温度的平衡关系进行模拟并建立了数学模型;发现由于LPG气、液相之间对流换热和汽化吸热效应的差异,导致液相与气相之间的温度差,此温度差是罐体外壁产生结霜分层现象的主要原因。     

BLEVE: The case of water and a historical survey

After a short update of the current more accepted definition of BLEVE, the special features of water BLEVEs are analyzed. The stronger overpressure wave generated in the case of water as compared to that of other substances is justified in terms of volume change. Through a comparison with liquefied pressurized propane, three possibilities are analyzed: the simultaneous contribution of both the liquid and the preexisting vapor, the contribution of the liquid flash vaporization, and the contribution of the pre-existing vapor. Also a historical survey on a set of 202 BLEVE accidents –the largest sample of BLEVE accidents surveyed until now– is presented. LPG was the most common substances in this set of accidents. However, water and LNG (11% of water and 4% of LNG in the studied cases) have also been involved. Impact failure (44.8%) and human factor (30.3%) were the most common causes of BLEVEs. Transport, storage, process plants, and transfer were the activities in which more accidents occurred.     

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.     

二元混合液体闪点的计算

以混合溶液纯组分易燃液体闪点的饱和蒸气压为基础,应用乌拉尔定律、双液系的气-液相平衡理论,运用Le Chatelier方程和安托因方程导出二元混合液的闪点计算方法。并例举易燃液体与易燃液体组成的理想混合液、易燃液体与易燃液体组成的非理想混合液、易燃液体与不燃液体组成的非理想混合液的计算过程。乙醇溶液闪点的计算结果与现有的文献资料比较,误差在允许范围内。计算数据用Excel处理,快捷准确,用于确定二元混合液体的火灾危险性。     

A closer look at BLEVE overpressure

The overpressure produced by the boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) is still not well understood. Various methods have been published on the overpressure modeling in the far field. They mostly differ by the modeling of the expansion energy, used to scale the distance to the source where the overpressure needs to be calculated. But these methods usually include a experimentally fitted reduction factor, and are mostly overestimating the overpressures. Today there is a growing interest in modeling the BLEVE overpressure in the near field, for studying the blast effect on critical infrastructure such as bridges and buildings. This requires a much better understanding of the BLEVE blast. This paper goes deeper in the understanding of the physical phenomenon leading to the BLEVE blast wave generation and propagation. First, mid-scale BLEVE experiments in addition to new experimental data for near field blast from a small scale supercritical BLEVE are analyzed. And second, an analysis method of the shocks observed in the experiments is presented based on fundamental gas dynamics, and allows the elaboration of a new modeling approach for BLEVE overpressure, based on the calculation of the initial overpressure and radius of the blast.     

Accidental risk of superheated liquids and a framework for predicting the superheat limit

The phenomenon of superheating of liquids has fostered the development of several beneficial technologies and has the potential of revolutionizing the design and application of thermal micro-machines. But liquid superheat is also behind some of the most common and destructive accidents in the process industry. These include boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE), which occurs when a vessel storing pressure liquefied gas such as propane, chlorine, or ammonia is accidentally depressurized. Superheating was also responsible for the catastrophic release of methyl isocyanate in Bhopal. Besides great losses of life and inanimate assets, such accidents often cause severe environmental contamination. In nuclear industry superheated liquids pose an ever-present threat of thermo-hydraulic explosion if a leak or a break occurs in a pipeline carrying a superheated coolant. In metallurgical industries accidental contact of molten metal with another substance of much lower boiling point—such as water—can superheat the latter, causing explosion of great severity and destructive potential. Accidental dropping of water in hot oil and the resulting explosive vaporization of superheated water has been identified as the cause the largest number of household kitchen accidents.Even as knowledge of superheat limit temperature (SLT)—which is the temperature above which a liquid cannot exist at a given pressure—is central to the safe design and control of several industrial operations, reliable experimental or theoretical methods do not exist with which SLT can be determined accurately or quickly.In this paper we describe an attempt to develop a framework with which SLT of new substances can be theoretically determined with fair degree of confidence. Seven cubic equation of state (EOS) have been transformed by the application of the Maxwell's and the SLT criteria to eliminate those parameters of which correct values cannot be determined with certainty. The transformed equations have then been solved to generate SLT values. A comparison between the calculated and the observed values has been done for 75 industrial chemicals. It reveals that for a large number of chemicals the transformed Redlich–Kwong (RK) EOS is able to predict the SLT within less then 1% deviation from its experimental value. In case of the SLT of noble gases the transformed van der Waals (vdW) EOS has the best predictive ability. Only in a very few cases other EOS give a closer fit than the RK-EOS and the vdW-EOS. The ‘second best fit’ is almost always achieved with either the RK-EOS or the Twu–Redlich–Kwong (TRK) EOS.     

A prediction model for the flash point of binary liquid mixtures

A prediction model based on the partial least squares of the multivariate statistical analysis methods was developed for the flash point (FP) of binary liquid mixtures. Estimation of the FP of flammable substances is important for safety measures in industrial processes. Since experimental FP data of liquid mixtures are scarce in the literature, there have been many researches to estimate the FP of liquid mixtures using physicochemical laws. In this study, the partial least squares (PLS) method using experimental data was used as a prediction model of the FP of binary liquid mixtures. The FPs predicted from the PLS method were also compared to results from the existing calculating methods using physicochemical laws such as Raoult's law and the Van Laar equation.     

多功能球形爆炸容器研究

20L球形爆炸容器是通用的研究气体、可燃液体蒸气和粉尘等爆炸参数的重要仪器。本文以现有的压力容器标准为依据,将爆炸瞬态载荷转换成等效静态载荷,运用动力系数法,研究出了一种可用来做气体、可燃液体蒸气和粉尘爆炸实验的球形爆炸容器。用此球形爆炸容器进行液压实验和爆炸极限实验,实验得到甲烷的爆炸下限为4.5%,上限为14.0%;乙醇蒸气爆炸下限为2.5%,上限为15.0%;10μm镁粉粉尘爆炸下限为45g/m3,实验所得数据与文献中的差别不大。结果证明本文所设计的多功能球形爆炸容器科学合理,能够满足爆炸实验要求。