Filtern
Dokumenttyp
- Beitrag zu einem Tagungsband (4)
- Vortrag (4)
- Zeitschriftenartikel (2)
- Posterpräsentation (2)
Sprache
- Englisch (12)
Schlagworte
- Fire (12) (entfernen)
Organisationseinheit der BAM
Eingeladener Vortrag
- nein (4)
An overview of test standards and regulations relevant to the fire testing of pressure vessels
(2021)
Fire exposure of storage and transportation vessels of hazardous materials (including pressure liquefied gases) can result in BLEVEs and other high-consequence incidents with large societal and economic impacts. To reduce risk most countries have numerous regulations, codes of practice and guidance notes covering the design, operation and maintenance of vessels and thermal protection systems. Yet despite such regulations there remains no internationally accepted fire test procedure for pressure vessel and accompanying thermal protection systems that is capable of meeting a range of regulatory requirements. This paper considers some of the regulations in place in the western world and considers the origin of these based on large and medium-scale testing conducted to date. It examines conditions found in these tests to propose a set of recommendations on which to base a standard method of test. These recommendations are proposed as being representative of a credible large pool fire scenario that may occur.
Liquefied propane gas (LPG) tanks in a fully engulfing accidental fire experience a fast increase in internal pressure. The result is often a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion (BLEVE) that can result in a large fireball and flying debris over a radius of more than 100 meters.
In the last 30 years BAM has carried out more than 30 real scale fire tests on propane storage vessels across three test sites. The primary research goal was to identify systems that can delay or prevent a BLEVE. Early studies started with water deluge systems, and have since moved on to consider alternative protection systems.
It has been shown that an unprotected vessel fails within 10 minutes or less. Tests with different oil and propane fueled fires have given an overview on possible real accidents involving full-engulfing scenarios. LPG tanks of various sizes (2.7 m³, 3.6 m³, 4.8 m³, 6.7 m³) were used with different filling levels. Numerous protection systems, ranging from active systems like water systems to passive thick- and thin-film layers. Also, the degree of thickness of these layers was variated. Pressure relief valves (PRV) have also been investigated, both alone and in combination with protection systems.
This paper gives an overview of the work performed by BAM in the field of BLEVE prevention of protecting system since the last 30 years. It has been shown that e.g. with a full applied coating degree on the tank with and without PRV can be reached an exposition in a test fire scenario a duration of more than 60min. For partly coated tanks with and without PRV the duration time is like an unprotected vessel. Furthermore, it could be shown that the active water system also protects with technically correct design.
The results are based on data1. Figure 3 displays temperatures of the tank wall and of the gas phase over testing time. It can be seen that a complete coating strongly delayed the heating of tank wall and gas phase, whereas the partly coated tanks only had a minor influence on temperature development. There was no significant difference between a half coated and a thirdly coated tank measurable. Figure 4 shows the internal pressure of tanks over testing time. Only the fully coated tank enabled a low pressure over 90 min testing time. Hence, a complete coating is necessary to guarantee the fire safety of hazmat tanks and a partly coating is not sufficient.
A novel deign of test equipment has been commissioned to investigate thermal stratification and boiling during fire exposure of pressure vessels. Extensive temperature measurements and video of the internal conditions during fire exposure are possible, and the equipment has been designed for future compatibility with laser-based velocity measurement techniques. It is expected to generate data large quantities of data that will be of use in validation of two- and three-dimensional CFD models for the prediction of pressure vessel behaviour in fire. Future work will seek to characterize the boundary layer conditions in detail for a range of test fluids, fill levels and fire-induced thermal boundary conditions.
Initial tests undertaken during commissioning may indicate that fire exposure of the vessel wall just above the liquid level can have a notable influence on the pressurization rate, by increasing the degree of superheat. Further experimental and modelling work is required to confirm and quantify this effect, or to rebut this conclusion.
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.
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.
The interest in hydrogen-based green energy is increasing worldwide, and the same is true for hydrogen-powered vehicles. Among the possible solutions to store hydrogen in such vehicles, cryogenic tanks equipped with multi-layer insulation (MLI) are the most promising to increase the amount of energy stored per unit volume. However, MLI is affected by severe deterioration when exposed to an external source of heat such as a fire following a car accident, leaving the tank unprotected and leading to failure in a relatively short time. In this work, a one-dimensional model to evaluate MLI thermal degradation when a liquid hydrogen tank is exposed to fire is presented. The relevance of taking MLI degradation into account when simulating the pressure increase due to external fire exposure is here demonstrated through the analysis of several case studies. The results show that MLI systems performance depletes within a few minutes of exposure to hydrocarbon poolfire.