Fire Protection for Hazardous Materials Pressure Vessels

最近发生在加拿大魁北克Lac Megantic和其他北美地区的事件震惊了加拿大和世界。原油怎么可能会爆炸？这些爆炸被称为沸腾液体膨胀蒸汽爆炸(BLEVE)，几十年来一直为人所知。这种类型的爆炸在世界各地每年都会发生。它们通常与丙烷或液化石油气等液化气体有关。然而，当像轻质原油这样的易燃液体在封闭的压力容器中加热时，当容器发生故障时，其结果可能是BLEVE或类似BLEVE的事件。易燃商品的BLEVE通常涉及巨大的火球、爆炸冲击波和爆炸弹丸。这些危险可以摧毁建筑物，并导致数百米以外的人死亡。在过去的20年里，由于少数学术、政府和工业研究人员的集中研究，我们对BLEVE及其相关危险的了解有了很大提高。然而，仍有许多东西需要学习。当前研究的一个主要主题是找到具有成本效益的方法来阻止或推迟事故的发生。这是一个多学科的研究。它涉及结构力学、断裂力学、高温应力破裂、传导、对流、沸腾和辐射传热学、热力学、流体动力学、两相流动和流体结构相互作用。它需要复杂的实验研究和数值模拟。*本申请中提出的研究旨在进一步提高我们对BLEVE事件的理解，并开发改进的预测和分析方法，以便我们能够更好地定义对我们公民的风险。我们计划研究详细的监管机制，这样我们就可以确定减少与这些商品储存和运输相关的危险和风险的方法。我们还将研究创新的减排方法，如新型绝缘涂料，以找到解决这一日益严重的问题的最具成本效益的解决方案。我们需要这些详细的知识，以便我们能够执行必要的成本效益分析，以选择最具成本效益的解决方案。这是一个挑战，因为我们必须保护数以千计的船只，我们必须等待数年才能降低一次重大事故的风险。伯克博士和他的学生将进行小规模实验，研究各种大宗商品的BLEVE爆炸，包括丙烷和某些轻质原油。我们将开发和验证数学模型，使我们能够预测漂浮物的近距离危险。我们还将进行小型和大型实验，研究减压装置和热保护等创新缓解方法。*Birk博士将与5名本科生暑期研究人员一起培训1-2名博士生和2-4名MSC学生。这些人将继续为能源和化工公司、咨询公司、学术机构和政府监管机构工作。

The recent events at Lac Megantic ,Quebec and others in North America shocked Canada and the world. How is it possible that crude oil could explode? These explosions are called boiling liquid expanding vapour explosions (BLEVE) and have been known for decades. These types of explosions happen every year around the world. They are typically associated with liquefied gases such as propane or LPG. However, when a flammable liquid like light crude oil is heated in a closed pressure vessel, the outcome can be a BLEVE or BLEVE-like event when that container fails. ******BLEVEs of flammable commodities usually involve huge fireballs, explosion blast waves and projectiles. These hazards can destroy buildings and kill people over distances of hundreds of meters.  Our understanding of BLEVEs and their associated hazards has improved greatly over the last two decades due to focused research by a small number of academic, government and industrial researchers. However, there is still much to be learned. A major theme of current research is to find cost effective ways of stopping or delaying BLEVEs from happening when there is an accident. ***This is multidisciplinary research. It involves structural mechanics, fracture mechanics, high temperature stress rupture, conduction, convection, boiling and radiation heat transfer, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, two-phase flow, and fluid structure interaction. It requires sophisticated experimental research and numerical modelling. ****The research proposed in this application is intended to further improve our understanding of the BLEVE event and to develop improved methods of prediction and analysis so we can better define the risks to our citizens. We plan to study the detailed mechanisms so we can determine ways to reduce the hazards and risk associated with storage and transportation of these commodities. We will also study innovative mitigation methods such as new insulating coatings to find the most cost effective solutions to this growing problem. We need this detailed knowledge so we can perform the necessary cost-benefit analysis to select the most cost effective solutions. This is a challenge because we must protect many thousands of vessels, and we must wait years to reduce the risk of one major accident. ******Dr Birk and his students will conduct small scale experiments to study the BLEVE explosions from various commodities including propane and certain light crude oils. We will develop and validate mathematical models that allow us to predict the close-in hazards from BLEVEs. We will also conduct small and large scale experiments to study innovative mitigation methods such as pressure relief devices and thermal protection. ***Dr Birk will train 1-2 PhD students and 2-4 MSc students along with five undergraduate summer research students. These individuals will go on to work for energy and chemical companies, consulting firms, academic institutions and government regulators. *** **