Verification of Fire Protection Systems for LPG Tanks
- The results and execution of many full scale fire engulfment tests on 3.6 and 4.85 m³ LPG tanks, protected with thin sublimation and intumescent coatings, mineral wool with steel jackets, vermiculite coatings and water spray systems, are presented.
Additional furnace tests with coated steel plates have been carried out to optimize the necessary coating thickness.
Similarly, an overview of the test conditions for the recognition based on technical rules and BAM requirements for fire protection systems of LPG tanks will be shown and explained.
When the internal pressure reaches the vessel bursting pressure a violent tank rupture, fragmenting of the shell and spontaneous release of the content are the consequences. In case of LPG this event is called "boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion (BLEVE)" with expanding fireball as an additional severe consequence.
For this reason the sufficient fire protection of LPG vessels is an important item.
The tests demonstrated sufficient vesselThe results and execution of many full scale fire engulfment tests on 3.6 and 4.85 m³ LPG tanks, protected with thin sublimation and intumescent coatings, mineral wool with steel jackets, vermiculite coatings and water spray systems, are presented.
Additional furnace tests with coated steel plates have been carried out to optimize the necessary coating thickness.
Similarly, an overview of the test conditions for the recognition based on technical rules and BAM requirements for fire protection systems of LPG tanks will be shown and explained.
When the internal pressure reaches the vessel bursting pressure a violent tank rupture, fragmenting of the shell and spontaneous release of the content are the consequences. In case of LPG this event is called "boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion (BLEVE)" with expanding fireball as an additional severe consequence.
For this reason the sufficient fire protection of LPG vessels is an important item.
The tests demonstrated sufficient vessel safety during 90 minutes of a full fire engulfment.
It will also be shown that the examinations and results are transferable to bigger tanks.
The transferability of the test results is illustrated by diagrams which show the dependence of the coating thickness against the shell thickness of the tank.
All tested tanks were equipped with pressure relief valves (PRVs) and partially filled with propane.…