TY - CONF A1 - Eberwein, Robert T1 - Cryogenic Storage Tanks In Fire Incidents N2 - The ongoing geo-political conflicts and the increasing need for the implementation of measures to improve the energetic system sustainability are increasing the importance of tanks for storing cryogenic fluids in the energy industry. The most common example of cryogenic tank applications is the transport of natural gas and hydrogen in their liquid form (LNG and LH2 respectively) for which, considering the same transport volume cryogenic storage ensures significantly higher transport capacities with respect storage based solely on overpressure. A common feature of all cryogenic transported fluids is that their condition must be maintained minimizing heat leaks from the environment as much as possible. This is achieved by the implementation of thermal super Insulations (TSI) systems based on e. g. rock wool, perlites, microspheres, multilayer insulations (MLI), and vacuum which have proven to be effective in applications. However, due to the relatively short period of use in some applications, the small number of documented incidents, and the still few investigations carried out in the field, the exploitation of such systems in the cryogenic fluids transport sector still suffers from insufficient knowledge about the course and consequences of incidents. Accidents involving collisions, fires, and their combination are quite common in the transportation sector and may generate extraordinary loads on the tank and its insulation system, eventually leading to tank failure. The present study focuses on the behavior of TSI systems in tanks when it is exposed to an external heat source representative of a hydrocarbon fire scenario. This may cause an increase of the heat flux into a tank by several orders of magnitude with respect to normal design conditions, thus inducing severe and in the TSI, causing the rapid release of flammable gas and even resulting in a Boiling Liquide Expanding Vapour Explosion (BLEVE). To study such scenarios a test rig was developed at BAM that allows testing of TSI at industrial conditions and enables subsequent analysis of TSI samples. This test rig considers the typical double-walled design of tanks for cryogenic fluids with vacuum and an additional insulating material in the interspace. Adjustable electrical heating elements simulate the fire on one side of the double wall. This process allows the implementation of repeatable heat loads of up to 100 kW/m². The other side of the double wall is represented by a fluid-supported heat exchanger, which allows the simulation of cold or cryogenic conditions in the test rig, and to determine the heat flux transmitted through the double wall. Thus, the test rig allows thermal loading and performance analysis of TSI samples at the same time. In the presentation, the results of diverse tested TSI systems will be presented and discussed. As a result of this study, the list of advantages and disadvantages for the choice of tested TSI expands. Within the test, all samples degraded as a consequence of a hydrocarbon fire-orientated thermal load. Strong differences in the behavior of the tested TSI systems over temperature, location, and time were observed. Additionally, the tested MLI insulations were significantly more resistant to their base materials. These results are relevant for the design, the definition of national and international regulations, the Risk assessment, and the development of safety concepts for cryogenic tanks. T2 - Cryogenic Storage Tanks CY - Munich, Germany DA - 18.04.2024 KW - LH2 KW - LNG KW - Fire KW - Insulation PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-59921 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Eberwein, Robert A1 - Hajhariri, Aliasghar A1 - Camplese, D. A1 - Scarponi, G. E. A1 - Cozzani, V. A1 - Otremba, Frank T1 - Insulation Materials Used in Tanks for the Storage of Cryogenic Fluids in Fire Scenarios N2 - The importance of tanks for storing cryogenic fluids in the energy industry is increasing because of ongoing political conflicts and the implementation of more environmentally friendly energy sources. Key representatives for the application of cryogenic tanks are natural gas in the form of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and hydrogen, e. g. in the form of Liquefied Hydrogen (LH2), for which significantly higher transport capacities can be achieved with the same transport volume using cryogenic storages than with storages based solely on overpressure. What applies to all cryogenic transported fluids in common is their condition that must be maintained. Hence heat flows into the preserved fluid must be minimized. Thermal super Insulations (TSI) based on e. g. multilayer insulations (MLI), perlites, and vacuum are utilized for this purpose and have already proven themselves in similar applications. However, for the use of tanks for cryogenic fluids in the transport sector, there is insufficient knowledge regarding the course and consequences of incidents, which is due to the still short period of use and the few documented incidents, hence few investigations carried out in this field. Typical scenarios in the transport sector represent car accidents with collisions, fires, and their combination, which are associated with extraordinary loads on the tank. The focus of this study is to investigate the behavior of TSI as a result of their thermal exposure to a heat source representing a fire. It is worth mentioning that this could lead to an increase of the heat flux into a tank by several orders of magnitude, and to permanent damage of the TSI, ultimately rapid release of flammable gas as well as a Boiling Liquide Expanding Vapour Explosion (BLEVE). For this purpose, a high temperature thermal vacuum chamber (HTTVC) has been developed that allows thermal loading of MLI or perlites in a vacuum and simultaneous measurement of heat flow through this TSI. The HTTVC is designed to represent realistic insulation conditions and to withstand thermal loads from typical design fires. The HTTVC was applied to investigate TSI based on MLI and vacuum. It is shown that the thermal stress caused permanent damage to the TSI, with shrinkage, phase change, pyrolysis, and condensation being significant damage mechanisms. The results are relevant for the evaluation of accident scenarios and can thus contribute to the improvement of TSI and the development of emergency measures for the protection of persons and infrastructures. T2 - ASME 2023 Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference (PVP2023) CY - Atlanta, Georgia, USA DA - 16.07.2023 KW - LH2 KW - LNG KW - Fire KW - MLI KW - Safety PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57974 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Otremba, Frank T1 - Systems with Cryogenic Liquefied Gases in Fire Incidents N2 - Liquefied Hydrogen (LH2) or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) establish themselves as important energy carriers in the transport sector. Its storage requires tanks with Thermal Super Insulations (TSI) to keep the transported fluid cold. TSI has proven itself in various applications over a long time, but not in the land transport sector, where accidents involving collisions, fires, and their combination are to be expected. The focus of this study is to investigate the behavior of different types of TSI when exposed to a heat source that represents a fire. Therefore, a High- Temperature Thermal Vacuum Chamber (HTTVC) was used that allows the thermal loading of thermal insulation material in a vacuum and measuring the heat flow through the TSI in parallel. Within this study, 5 samples were tested regarding 3 different types of MLI, rock wool, and perlites. The thermal exposure caused different effects on the samples. In practice, this can be connected to the rapid release of flammable gases as well as a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion (BLEVE). These results are relevant for the evaluation of accident scenarios, the improvement of TSI, and the development of emergency measures. T2 - IMECE 2023 CY - New Orleans, Louisiana, USA DA - 29.10.2023 KW - LH2 KW - LNG KW - Fire PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58769 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schiaroli, Alice A1 - Camplese, Davide A1 - Scarponi, Giordano Emrys A1 - Eberwein, Robert A1 - Ustolin, Federico A1 - Cozzani, Valerio T1 - Modelling the behaviour of cryogenic liquid hydrogen tanks engulfed in fire N2 - The safe use of liquid hydrogen as a clean fuel requires a deep understanding of its behaviour in accident scenarios. Among other scenarios, the possible involvement of cryogenic liquid hydrogen tanks in engulfing fires is of particular concern, due to the potentially severe consequences. This study proposes a computational fluid dynamic model suitable to simulate the behaviour of liquid hydrogen tanks equipped with multi-layer insulation (MLI) engulfed in fire. An original approach has been developed to assess the progressive degradation of the performance of the thermal insulation, that is crucial in determining the tank pressurization and failure. The model is validated against full-scale experimental fire tests. The outcomes of the model reproduce the progressive pressurization and the opening time of the pressure relief valve within 2 % error. The results demonstrate the importance of accounting for the dynamic evolution of the progressive degradation of the insulation when evaluating tank pressurization, and they highlight the limitations of empirical, simplified state-of-the-art approaches. Furthermore, the analysis evidences the key role of the fire temperature in governing tank response, stressing the need for proper fire characterization to support reliable modelling of fire scenarios and the development of emergency planning and mitigation strategies ensuring the structural integrity of liquid hydrogen tanks during fire attacks. KW - LH2 KW - LNG KW - Fire KW - Tank PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-652920 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2025.108319 SN - 0957-5820 VL - 206 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-65292 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Camplese, Davide T1 - Safety assessment of MLI super-insulation systems for cryogenic liquid-hydrogen tanks in fire scenarios N2 - In the context of green energy transition, cryogenic tanks featuring MLI systems are emerging as a leading solution to store hydrogen in heavy-duty vehicles. However, the integrity of such tanks can be jeopardized by fire. In such a scenario, MLI materials degradation can occur, leaving the tank unprotected from the fire heat flux, with consequent rapid pressurization and a high risk of failure. This study presents an assessment of aluminum-based MLI for liquid hydrogen cryogenic tanks under fire exposure based on the estimation of the time to mechanical failure of the equipment. This is calculated through an innovative model that simulates the thermomechanical response of the tank, including the MLI thermal degradation and the pressure-relief valve (PRV) operation. The application to several case studies that consider a typical LH2 tank featuring a wide range of MLI configurations demonstrated the likelihood of failure in case of exposure to a hydrocarbon pool fire, providing also comprehensive insights into the impact of the insulation characteristics and operating conditions on the time to failure. T2 - 18th EFCE International Symposium on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion in the Process Industries CY - Bologna, Italy DA - 08.06.2025 KW - LH2 KW - Insulation KW - Tanks KW - Fire KW - LNG PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63427 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Camplese, Davide A1 - Scarponi, Giordano Emrys A1 - Eberwein, Robert A1 - Hajhariri, Aliasghar A1 - Otremba, Frank A1 - Cozzani, Valerio T1 - Modelling Fire Response of Cryogenic Liquid Hydrogen Tanks Equipped with Multilayer Insulation (MLI) Systems N2 - In the context of the growing global interest in hydrogen-based green energy, cryogenic tanks equipped with multi-layer insulation (MLI) are emerging as a leading solution for storing hydrogen in vehicles. The integrity of these systems might be threatened during fire exposure. This can trigger the degradation of the MLI materials and induce rapid pressurization of the tank with a high risk of catastrophic failure. In this work, a novel lumped model to simulate the thermal response of MLI-equipped cryogenic liquid hydrogen tanks is presented. The model integrates the accurate database “Coolprop” for hydrogen thermodynamic properties and sub-models for detailed simulation of MLI degradation, providing a realistic simulation of the experimental data obtained under normal operating conditions. The application of the model to several case studies considering different numbers of MLI layers and tank geometries demonstrates that aluminum-based MLI offers scarce protection in case of exposure to a hydrocarbon poolfire. T2 - CISAP 11 CY - Neapel, Italy DA - 15.09.2024 KW - LH2 KW - LNG KW - Cryogenic storage tank KW - Insulation KW - MLI PY - 2024 DO - https://doi.org/10.3303/CET24111076 SN - 2283-9216 VL - 111 SP - 451 EP - 456 PB - AIDIC The Italian Association of Chemical Engineering AN - OPUS4-61384 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Eberwein, Robert A1 - Hajhariri, Aliasghar A1 - Camplese, Davide A1 - Scarponi, Giordano Emrys A1 - Cozzani, Valerio A1 - Otremba, Frank T1 - A comparative study on insulation materials in tanks for the storage of cryogenic fluids in fire incidents N2 - Liquefied Hydrogen (LH2) or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) establish themselves as important energy carriers in the transport sector. Its storage requires tanks with Thermal Super Insulations (TSI) to keep the transported fluid cold. TSI has proven itself in various applications over a long time, but not in the land transport sector, where accidents involving collisions, fires, and their combination are to be expected. The focus of this study is to investigate the behavior of different types of TSI when exposed to a heat source that represents a fire. Therefore, a High-Temperature Thermal Vacuum Chamber (HTTVC) was used that allows the thermal loading of thermal insulation material in a vacuum and measuring the heat flow through the TSI in parallel. Within this study, 5 samples were tested regarding 3 different types of MLI, rock wool, and perlites. The thermal exposure caused different effects on the samples. In practice, this can be connected to the rapid release of flammable gases as well as a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion (BLEVE). These results are relevant for the evaluation of accident scenarios, the improvement of TSI, and the development of emergency measures. T2 - IMECE 2023 CY - New Orleans, Louisiana, USA DA - 29.10.2023 KW - LH2 KW - LNG KW - Fire PY - 2023 SP - 1 EP - 7 AN - OPUS4-58768 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Eberwein, Robert A1 - Scarponi, Giordano T1 - Performance of MLI systems for LH2 Tanks in fire scenarios N2 - In the course of decarbonizing the energy industry, cryogenic energy carriers are seen as having great potential. This is because they allow significantly higher volumetric energy densities to be achieved than when these energy carriers are stored at typical temperatures on Earth. This is important for numerous energy-intensive applications, such as those found in all transport sectors. Important cryogenic energy carriers include liquefied hydrogen (LH2) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). The challenge is to keep the energy carrier cold for a long time. This is achieved by the implementation of thermal super-insulations (TSI) systems based on multilayer insulations (MLI), microspheres, perlites, and vacuum for instance, and which have proven to be effective in several cryogenic applications. However, due to the short period of use, the low number of documented incidents, and the still few investigations carried out in the field, the exploitation of such systems in the transport sector still suffers from insufficient knowledge about the course and consequences of incidents. Accidents involving collisions, fires, and their combination are quite common in the transportation sector and may generate extraordinary loads on the tank and its insulation system, eventually leading to tank failure. The presentation summarizes the findings from the cooperation of the University of Bologna and BAM regarding the experiments on diverse types of super-insulations with the High Temperature Thermal Vacuum Chamber, as well as the model approaches that were developed to calculate the heat transfer and degradation of MLI’s during high thermal exposure. As an outlook the application of the models, the Cryogenic High Temperature Thermal Vacuum Chamber, and the fire test on HGV-components are presented. T2 - ELVHyS - International Stakeholder's Seminars CY - Bologna, Italy DA - 30.09.2024 KW - LH2 KW - LNG KW - Cryogenic storage tank KW - Fire KW - Safety PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61205 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Camplese, Davide T1 - Modelling Fire Response of Cryogenic Liquid Hydrogen Tanks Equipped with Multilayer Insulation (MLI) Systems N2 - In the context of the growing global interest in hydrogen-based green energy, cryogenic tanks equipped with multi-layer insulation (MLI) are emerging as a leading solution for storing hydrogen in vehicles. The integrity of these systems might be threatened during fire exposure. This can trigger the degradation of the MLI materials and induce rapid pressurization of the tank with a high risk of catastrophic failure. In this work, a novel lumped model to simulate the thermal response of MLI-equipped cryogenic liquid hydrogen tanks is presented. The model integrates the accurate database “Coolprop” for hydrogen thermodynamic properties and sub-models for detailed simulation of MLI degradation, providing a realistic simulation of the experimental data obtained under normal operating conditions. The application of the model to several case studies considering different numbers of MLI layers and tank geometries demonstrates that aluminum-based MLI offers scarce protection in case of exposure to a hydrocarbon poolfire. T2 - CISAP 11 CY - Neapel, Italy DA - 15.09.2024 KW - Liquefied hydrogen KW - LNG KW - Fire KW - Insulation KW - MLI PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61389 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Eberwein, Robert A1 - Hajhariri, Aliasghar A1 - Camplese, D. A1 - Scarponi, G. E. A1 - Cozzani, V. A1 - Otremba, Frank T1 - Insulation Materials Used in Tanks for the Storage of Cryogenic Fluids in Fire Scenarios N2 - The importance of tanks for storing cryogenic fluids in the energy industry is increasing because of ongoing political conflicts and the implementation of more environmentally friendly energy sources. Key representatives for the application of cryogenic tanks are natural gas in the form of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and hydrogen, e. g. in the form of Liquefied Hydrogen (LH2), for which significantly higher transport capacities can be achieved with the same transport volume using cryogenic storages than with storages based solely on overpressure. What applies to all cryogenic transported fluids in common is their condition that must be maintained. Hence heat flows into the preserved fluid must be minimized. Thermal super Insulations (TSI) based on e. g. multilayer insulations (MLI), perlites, and vacuum are utilized for this purpose and have already proven themselves in similar applications. However, for the use of tanks for cryogenic fluids in the transport sector, there is insufficient knowledge regarding the course and consequences of incidents, which is due to the still short period of use and the few documented incidents, hence few investigations carried out in this field. Typical scenarios in the transport sector represent car accidents with collisions, fires, and their combination, which are associated with extraordinary loads on the tank. The focus of this study is to investigate the behavior of TSI as a result of their thermal exposure to a heat source representing a fire. It is worth mentioning that this could lead to an increase of the heat flux into a tank by several orders of magnitude, and to permanent damage of the TSI, ultimately rapid release of flammable gas as well as a Boiling Liquide Expanding Vapour Explosion (BLEVE). For this purpose, a high temperature thermal vacuum chamber (HTTVC) has been developed that allows thermal loading of MLI or perlites in a vacuum and simultaneous measurement of heat flow through this TSI. The HTTVC is designed to represent realistic insulation conditions and to withstand thermal loads from typical design fires. The HTTVC was applied to investigate TSI based on MLI and vacuum. It is shown that the thermal stress caused permanent damage to the TSI, with shrinkage, phase change, pyrolysis, and condensation being significant damage mechanisms. The results are relevant for the evaluation of accident scenarios and can thus contribute to the improvement of TSI and the development of emergency measures for the protection of persons and infrastructures. T2 - ASME 2023 Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference (PVP2023) CY - Atlanta, Georgia, USA DA - 16.07.2023 KW - LH2 KW - LNG KW - MLI KW - Fire PY - 2023 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - ASME AN - OPUS4-57973 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -