SEDL / STP / STP1150-EB / STP23790S

Fire Engulfment of Pressure-Liquefied Gas Tanks: Experiments and Modeling

Sumathipala, UK
Research associate, professor, professor, and professor, University of New Brunswick, Fire Science Centre, Fredericton, New Brunswick

Hadjisophocleous, GV
Research officer, National Research Council of Canada, National Fire Laboratory, Ottawa, Ontario

Aydemir, NU
Research engineer, Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment, Pinawa, Manitoba

Yu, C-M
Professor, University of Science and Technology, Beijing,

Sousa, ACM
Research associate, professor, professor, and professor, University of New Brunswick, Fire Science Centre, Fredericton, New Brunswick

Steward, FR
Research associate, professor, professor, and professor, University of New Brunswick, Fire Science Centre, Fredericton, New Brunswick

Venart, JES
Research associate, professor, professor, and professor, University of New Brunswick, Fire Science Centre, Fredericton, New Brunswick

Pages: 16    Published: Jan 1992

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Abstract

The in-vessel transient thermohydraulics, under emergency relief, of tanks of heated pressure liquefied gases, determines whether vessels will safely relieve their contents, rupture and cause a pool or flashing jet fire, or catastrophically fail and boiling liquid expanding vapor explosions (BLEVE) resulting in a significant fire ball and rocketing debris.

This paper reviews the basic thermohydraulic phenomena and their interaction. The mech- anisms are illustrated with reference to direct visual observation in small vessels and the interpretation of additional data obtained in intermediate scale experiments.

The paper additionally describes a two-dimensional zone and a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) field technique to describe the tank and fluid behavior under fire attack conditions.