Experimental study of flashing LNG jet fires following horizontal releases

A horizontally oriented jet fire could occur if the leaking liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the side surface of a pipe or storage tank was ignited. Previous work with LNG mostly focused on pool fires. In the present study, horizontally oriented LNG jet fires were studied through 10 open field full scale tests. The flames were visualized by both infrared and video cameras. The recorded flame shapes are compared and analysed. Peak temperatures and heat fluxes at various flow rates were measured and recorded. For relatively low reservoir pressure, a small amount of LNG was found to spray through the fire and rainout onto the ground, forming an LNG pool. A correlation was established to calculate the flame length from the mass flow rate.