(54ag) The Application of CFD Simulation in Evaluation of LPG Pool Fire Heat Flux

Liquefied Petroleum Gas is used widely in a great number of applications. The main components of LPG are propane and butane, which can be used safety if risks can be managed in acceptable levels. Vaporizing liquid LPG to gas is a critical step before using in a large number of applications, while safety is an essential factor that should be taken into consideration in this processing. The conflict in requirements of the minimum distance for LPG vaporizers to a container has been discussed for a long time, like NFPA 58 (≥10 ft. or 3 m) and NFPA 59 (≥50 ft. or 15 m). In order to have a better quantitative understanding of the heat flux from LPG pool fires and determine the appropriate distance between the vaporizer and containers, we have collected considerable experimental data about the main parameters of LPG pool fires. The results show that, for the pool fire sizes from 0.1 m to 10 m, the average emissive power is ranging from 35 kW/m² to 79 kW/m², and when the size is from 10 m to 20 m, the counterpart power is ranging from 47 kW/m² to 134 kW/m². The heat flux from pool fires to the surroundings decreases from 60 kW/m² to 2 kW/m² as the distance increases from 40 m to 80 m, and the heat flux is 9.7 kW/m² at the distance of 260 m with the largest pool size of 107 m in the literature. CFD simulation is an economic method to obtain a large number of data of parameters from LPG pool fire. To compensate the limited experimental data of the heat flux of LPG pool fires from different distances, CFD fluent has been applied to simulate LPG pool fires from the diameter between 1 m to 30 m, which gives the specific heat flux from different diameters. The data and modelings might not only help us understand heat flux from LPG pool fires and heat flux values which may lead LPG storage tanks to potentially fail, but also be used in revisions to the related standards.