Journal
FIRE SAFETY JOURNAL
Volume 61, Issue -, Pages 100-107Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2013.08.003
Keywords
Wildland fire; LPG Tank; Boiling liquid expanding vapor cloud; explosion; BLEVE; Fire safety
Funding
- CFBP (Comite Francais du Butane Propane)
- GL Noble Denton Spadeadam
Ask authors/readers for more resources
During wildland fires, homes located close to the fire can be threatened by the thermal heat flux from the firewall. Several studies have attempted to establish safety distances to protect people and prevent houses from burning, but no research has focused on the possible presence of an LPG tank, which would be supplying fuel for heating or cooking. This topic is, however, very important since hazards from a BLEVE (blast, fireball, fragments) can hurt firefighters during their intervention. This article aims to analyze the impact of a large crown fire on an LPG tank, if a mandatory safety zone of fifty meters is respected. Part One focuses on theoretical considerations aiming to (i) calculate the radiative heat fluxes impacting the tank, and (ii) perform a real scale test. Experiments were performed with a 2 m(3) LPG tank 15% full, with a heat flux from a natural gas burner system. The relevance of these test versus a real case is discussed. Results are in very good agreement with the expected heat fluxes, and suggest that there should be no BLEVE risk in the hypothetical conditions. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available