Fire engulfment tests on a 5 tonne LPG tank

Assessment of an explosive LPG release accident: A case study

“…This explains the difference in the profiles for T v and T l . It is interesting noting that, despite the strong heat input from the external fire, the liquid's temperature does not increase very much with respect to the ambient one; this is also confirmed by experimental measurements reported in the literature [14] under similar conditions. It can be seen that, with the exception of T pv , the time profiles for all other temperatures do not vary with the heat input.…”

“…After 25 min from the beginning of the pool fire T pv reaches a value of 650 and 700 • C for the two heat inputs of 200 and 250 kW/m 2 , respectively, the temperature of 600 • C being attained after 420 and 330 s. The results of these numerical simulations are in agreement with some experimental data reported in the literature. Moodie et al [14] carried out some tests with a cylindrical tank 4.88-m long, 1.7-m diameter with shell thickness of 11.85 mm. The tanks were fully engulfed in kerosene pool fires for which a heat flux of about 90-100 kW/m 2 can be assumed, and different fill levels were adopted during the experimentation.…”

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

“…Once it reached steady conditions the fire remained constant except for wind effects. It has been noted in various pool fire tests (see for example Moodie et al, 1988) the pool fire intensity tends to drop with time. This was not modelled here.…”

“…With a properly working and sized pressure relief valve (PRV), the tank can fail due to wall material degradation at high temperature even though the tank pressure is within design limits. Numerous fire tests have shown this (Birk, Cunningham, Ostic, & Hiscoke, 1997;Droste & Schoen, 1988;Moodie, Cowley, Denny, Small, & Williams, 1988;Townsend, Anderson, Zook, & Cowgill, 1974). This has been known for decades but the detailed mechanics are still a topic of discussion and analysis.…”

On the thermal rupture of 1.9m3 propane pressure vessels with defects in their thermal protection system

“…With a properly working and sized pressure relief valve (PRV), the vessel can rupture due to wall material degradation at high temperature even though the vessel pressure is within design limits. Numerous fire tests have shown this (Birk, Cunningham, Ostic, & Hiscoke, 1997;Droste & Schoen, 1988;Moodie, Cowley, Denny, Small, & Williams, 1988;Townsend, Anderson, Zook, & Cowgill, 1974).…”