Faculty of Chemical Engineering

Universiti Teknologi MARA

Fires and Explosions: Part III

 Vapour Cloud Explosions
• VCE is the most dangerous and destructive explosions in the chemical
process industries.
• The explosions occur in a sequence of steps:
 Sudden release of a large quantity of flammable vapour (e.g. a vessel
containing a superheated and pressurised liquid ruptures).
 Dispersion of the vapour throughout the plant site while mixing with air.
 Ignition of the resulting vapour cloud.
• Any process containing quantities of liquefied gases, volatile superheated
liquid, or high-pressure gases is considered a good candidate for a VCE.
 Vapour Cloud Explosions
Example: Flixborough, England (1974)
 Vapour Cloud Explosions
• Some of parameters that affect VCE behaviour:
– Quantity of material released
– Fraction of material vapourised
– Probability of ignition of the cloud
– Distance traveled by the cloud before ignition
– Time delay before ignition of cloud
– Efficiency of explosion
• Studies have shown that:
– Ignition probability increases as the size of vapour cloud increases
– The explosion efficiency is usually small (approx 2% of combustion energy
converted into a blast wave)
– Turbulent mixing of vapour and air and ignition of the cloud at a point remote
from the release increases the explosion’s impact.
 Vapour Cloud Explosions
• The best approach to prevent VCE is to prevent the release of
material.
• A large cloud of combustible material is dangerous and almost
impossible to control.
• Methods used to prevent VCE include:
– Keeping low inventories of volatile, flammable materials
– Using process conditions that minimize flashing if a vessel or
pipeline is ruptured.
– Using analyzers to detect leaks at low concentrations
– Installing automated block valves to shut the systems down
while the spills is in the incipient stage of development.
 TNT Equivalency Method
• A simple method for equating a known energy of a
combustible fuel to an equivalent mass of TNT.
• This approach assumes that an exploding mass
behaves like exploding TNT on an equivalent energy
basis. Empirical explosion Mass of
hydrocarbon Energy of explosion
efficiency
*** The heat of combustion
Equivalent m H c for the flammable gas can
m TNT 
mass of TNT E TNT be used in place of the
energy of explosion for the
The energy of explosion of the TNT combustible gas
1120 cal/g OR 4686 kJ/kg OR 2016 Btu/lb
 TNT Equivalency Method
• The explosion efficiency is one of the major problems
in the equivalency method.
• The method is unable to consider the effect of flame
speed acceleration resulting from confinement. As a
result, the overpressure curve for TNT tends to
overpredict the overpressure near VCE and to
underpredict at distances away from VCE.
• The advantage of this method is that it is easy to apply
because the calculations are simple.
 TNT Equivalency Method
• Procedure to estimate the damage associated with an explosion using the
TNT equivalency method:
 Determine the total quantity of flammable material involved in the
explosion.
 Estimate the explosion efficiency, and calculate the equivalent mass of
TNT .
 Use the scaling law to estimate the peak side-on overpressure.
 Estimate the damage for common structures and process equipment.

NOTE: The procedure can be applied in reverse to estimate the

quantity of material involved based on damage estimates.
 TNO Multi-Energy Method
• TNO is the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific
Research.
• TNO method identifies the confined volume in a process,
assigns a relative degree of confinement and then
determine the contribution to the overpressure from this
confined volume.
• This method suggests that damaging explosion can only
occur when flame acceleration takes place within a plant
structure – truly unconfined explosions are unlikely to
occur.
 TNO Multi-Energy Method
• Main factors affecting vapour cloud explosions in chemical plant structures:
– Turbulence effects causing accelerating flame speed as the flame passes
obstacles in a plant structure, eventually giving explosive overpressure effects.
– Highly congested plant structures give high overpressures
– Flammable gases with high laminar burning velocity give high overpressures
– The degree to which leaks of flammable gases fill a structure – larger the
volumes of structure give higher overpressures
– Longer flame path lengths through the structure give higher overpressures.
 TNO Multi-Energy Method
• Procedures :
– Determine the charge combustion energy, E, where E is
determined by multiplying the confined volume occupied by a
vapour cloud with the heat of combustion of a stoichiometric
hydrocarbon-air mixture (3.5 x 106 J/m3).
– Estimate the blast strength (between 1 – 10).
– Determine the Sachs-scaled distance using the following equation
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6.29 from page 288

 TNO Multi-Energy Method
• Procedures :
– The Sachs-scaled blast side-on overpressure is read from the blast
chart.
– The overpressure is given by:
Po   Ps  Pa
Page 288

Process Safety - CPE615

 Example 1
One thousand kilograms of methane escapes from a
storage vessel, mixes with air, and explodes.
a) Determine the equivalent amount of TNT
b) Determine the side-on peak overpressure at a
distance of 50 m from the blast, and estimate the
possible impact to the structure.
Assume an explosion efficiency of 2%.
 Solution to Example 1
a) 0 . 02  1000  (1 / 0 . 016 )( 802 . 3 )
m TNT   214 kg TNT
4686 kJ/kg

r 50 m
b) ze  1/3
m TNT

214 kg 1/3
 8 . 4 m/kg 1/3

From the figure 6.23, Ps = 0.25

So, Po= PsPa= 0.25 x 101.2kPa = 25 kPa
This overpressure will demolish steel panel buildings or
ruptures oil storage tanks (Table 6-9)
 Example 2
Consider the explosion of a propane-air vapour cloud confined beneath
a storage tank. The tank is supported 1 m off the ground by concrete
piles. The concentration of vapour in the cloud is assumed to be at
stoichiometric concentrations.

A cloud of 2094 m3 confined below the tank, representing the volume

underneath the tank. Determine the overpressure from this vapour
cloud explosion at a distance of 100 m from the blast using the TNO
multi-energy method. Assume the blast strength of 7 for this
explosion.
Solution to Example 2
Heat of
combustion

E  ( 2094 m 3 )( 3 . 5  10 6
J/m 3
)  7 . 329  10 9
J

The Sachs-scaled energy

r 100 m
R    2 .4
E / Pa 
1/ 3
7.329  10 9

J / 101 ,325 P a 
1/ 3

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From the blast chart, the scaled overpressure is about 0.13

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Po = 1.9 psi
Process Safety - CPE615
 BLEVE
• BLEVE is an acronym for "boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion".
• It is the result of a liquid within a container reaching a temperature
well above its boiling point at atmospheric temperature, causing the
vessel to rupture into two or more pieces.
• A BLEVE can occur when fire impinges on the tank shell at a point or
points above the liquid level of the contents of the tank.
• This impingement causes the metal to weaken and fail from the
internal pressure.
• BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion) Demonstration -
How it Happens Training Video.mp4
 BLEVE
• BLEVEs can also be caused by an external fire near the storage vessel
causing heating of the contents and pressure build-up.
• Such explosions can be extremely hazardous.
• BLEVEs can result from mechanical damage to a tank, as well.
• This damage can be the result of a train derailment, traffic accident,
or other physical shock.
• When a BLEVE occurs, debris may travel hundreds of feet, with
tremendous force, and the escaping fuel can ignite causing an
expanding fireball.
 BLEVE

• If the vessel is ruptured — the vapour portion may

rapidly leak, lowering the pressure inside the
container and releasing a wave of overpressure from
the point of rupture.
• This sudden drop in pressure inside the container
causes violent boiling of the liquid, which rapidly
liberates large amounts of vapour in the process.
 BLEVE
• The pressure of this vapour can be extremely high, causing a second,
much more significant wave of overpressure (an explosion) which
may completely destroy the storage vessel and project fragments
over the surrounding area.
• If the substance involved is flammable, it is likely that the resulting
cloud of the substance will ignite after the BLEVE has occurred,
forming a fireball and possibly a fuel-air explosion, also termed a
vapour cloud explosion (VCE).
• If the materials are toxic, a large area will be contaminated.
 BLEVE
• The most common type of BLEVE is caused by fire.
• The steps are as follows:
– A fire develops adjacent to a tank containing a liquid.
– The fire heats the walls of the tank.
– The liquid-filled portion stays cool due to heat-sink effects, but the steel around
the vapor space rapidly heats up.
– If the flames reach the tank walls or roof where there is only vapour and no
liquid to remove the heat, the tank metal temperature rises until the tank loses
its structural strength.
– The tank ruptures, explosively vapourising its contents.
• Often, the boiling and burning of liquid behaves as a rocket fuel, propelling vessel
parts for great distances.
BLEVE
 Fire ball from BLEVEs
• The maximum diameter of the fireball is given by this
empirical relationship
• D = 5.8·M1/3
where D = maximum diameter of fireball, m
M = mass of fuel involved in the fireball, kg
• Duration of the fireball in the air
• td = 0.9·M0.25
Where td = time in seconds
 Probit for death due to thermal
radiation is given by:

Y = -14.9 + 2.56 ln [teqe4/3/104]

Process Safety - CPE615

Where:
te = exposure time (s)
qe = radiation heat flux received by the target (W/m2)
 The heat flux received by the target at a
distance on the ground from the center of
the fireball is given as:
qe = τEF21x103
Where:
qe = radiation heat flux received by the target (W/m2)
τ = atmospheric transmissivity (no units) = 1
E = radiation heat flux from the surface of the fireball (kW/m2
or kJ/m2.s)
F21 = view factor, D2/4L2 (no units)
L = distance from the centre of the fireball (m)
 The heat flux from the surface of a
fireball due to BLEVE
E = (R·M·∆Hc) / (πD2·td)
E = radiation heat flux from the surface of the fire (kJ/m2·s)
R = fraction of the heat combustion produced converted to heat flux (no units)
= 0.3 for fireball from a vessel that fracture at a pressure lower then the set
pressure of the relief valve
M = initial mass of flammable material in the fireball (kg)
∆Hc = heat of combustion of the flammable material (kJ/kg)
= 45, 000 kJ/kg (assumed ∆Hc for the hydrocarbon)
D = maximum diameter of the fireball (m)
td = time for fireball to last (s)