A study on factors affecting the safety zone in ship-to-ship LNG bunkering

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examine the characteristics of leaked-gas dispersion in ship to ship LNG bunkering, thereby providing an insight towards determining the appropriate level of safety zones in which the potential hazards pertinent to LNG bunkering are required to be minimized. For this purpose, parametric studies are undertaken in various operational and environmental conditions, with varying geometry of the bunkering ship, gas leak rate, wind speed and wind direction. The study applies computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for case-specific scenarios where a hypothetical LNG bunkering ship with a capacity of 5,100 m 3 in tank space is considered to refuel two typical types of large-ocean going vessels: an 18,000 TEU containership and a 319,000 DWT very large crude oil carrier. Research findings reveal that the gas leak rate and leak duration would be the parameters with the most influence in determining the extent of safety zones. It is pointed out that other parameters such as ship geometry, wind speed, and wind direction are also influential parameters. Details of the computations and discussions are presented.

Safety or Efficiency? An ECSO Framework of Traffic Organization Optimization for LNG Carriers Entering and Leaving Port

“…Zhou et al [20] proposed a novel FTA model for the analysis of the LNG carrier spill accidents; the quantitative evaluation is carried out by combining Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (CREAM) and Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). Park et al [2] examined the LNG leakage dispersion characteristics calculating the safety zone in a ship-to-ship LNG bunkering process.…”

“…In recent years, the development of the LNG industry has already directly stimulated the development of related industries, such as shipping, shipbuilding, metallurgy, chemical industry, machinery and electronics, finance, insurance, and city gas, which will create significant economic and social benefits. However, the specific property of LNG can result in terrible accidents; unexpected events related to LNG release may lead to several potential threats such as asphyxiation, cryogenic burns, structural damage, rapid phase transitions (RPT), and even fires and explosions when the leaked gas contacts the ignition source [1,2]. In case of ignition, there are four potential risk scenarios, namely, vapor cloud flash fire, poor fire, jet fire, and vapor cloud explosion [3,4], which will bring catastrophic consequences.…”

Safety evaluation on LNG bunkering: To enhance practical establishment of safety zone

“…They characterized LNG release by different risk types, vapor dispersion and radiation resistance in both qualitative and quantitative views. Park et al (2018) was focused on identifying the parametric influences on the gas dispersion in aids of 3D simulations under the ship-to-ship LNG bunkering environment.…”

“…Such an uncontrollable release may expose the ship and crews to various risks, such as asphyxiation, cryogenic burns, structural embrittlement and fire and explosion (ISO, 2015a). A number of research warns the potential accidents associated with LNG release (Choi et al, 2018;Dan et al, 2014;Dasgotra et al, 2018;Jeong et al, 2017b;Luo et al, 2018;Park et al, 2017;Park et al, 2018;Vílchez et al, 2013). Tan et al (2014) interestingly carried out a qualitative risk assessment pertinent to LNG release in Beijing city during the Olympic Games, presenting the significant impact of accidents on populated areas.…”

Human Error Probability Assessment for LNG Bunkering Based on Fuzzy Bayesian Network-CREAM Model

“…Some research studies have been conducted regarding the risks of LNG bunkering. These have mainly focused on the following three aspects: (1) safety zone evaluation [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22], (2) risk assessment methodology and practice [23][24][25][26][27], and (3) emergency evacuation assessment [27,28]. Even though these studies have improved our understanding of LNG bunkering safety, none has quantified human errors in LNG bunkering.…”