Mathematical modeling of toxic pollutants dispersion from large tank fires and assessment of acute effects for fire fighters

Markatos, N.C.; Christolis, C.; Argyropoulos, Christos D.

doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2009.03.039

Cited by 37 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is known that the pollutants emitted at the base of a street canyon will be recirculated inside the street canyon and accumulated to high levels when the street canyon is narrow, for example, in the case its aspect ratio (W/H) is less than 1.43 with so called "skimming flow pattern" (Liu, Barth 2002;Liu et al 2003;Baker et al 2004). In recent years, buoyancy effect on such pollutant dispersion in street canyons has attracted increasing attention (Sini et al 1996;Uehara et al 2000;Markatos et al 2009), for its complex interaction with wind. For example, Sini et al (1996) investigated the effects of the wall heat flux due to the solar heating of ground or building walls on pollutant dispersion within a street canyon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Global Relation of Fire Smoke Re-Circulation Behaviour in Urban Street Canyons

Zhang

Wei

et al. 2015

Journal of Civil Engineering and Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Street canyon, formed by buildings along two sides of a road, is an important and ubiquitous architectural element in the metropolises. When a fire occurs in an urban street canyon, a critical serious phenomenon is found to happen where the uprising fire smoke is re-circulated back into the base of the street canyon by the wind flow beyond a critical velocity. Theoretical analysis is derived based on Froude number (Fr), by balancing the inertial force of the wind flow to the buoyancy strength of the fire smoke. It is found that the critical re-circulation wind velocity is proportional to an integrated global parameter Large Eddy Simulations (LES) are carried out by Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). The critical Froude number (Fr) is found to be about 0.7~0.8. The simulation results are well collapsed by the generalized theoretical relation. It is further revealed that the non-dimensional critical re-circulation wind velocity against aspect ratio of street canyons in the skimming flow pattern (W/H < 1.43) falls into two behavioural regimes, where it firstly increases then remains constant with the increase in street canyon aspect ratio (W/H) with a turning point at W/H = 1. A global non-dimensional relation is finally achieved for the critical re-circulation wind velocity (u), fire heat release rate ( ) and its height (H) to the top of the street canyon as well as the street canyon aspect ratio (W/H).

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Global Relation of Fire Smoke Re-Circulation Behaviour in Urban Street Canyons

Zhang

Wei

et al. 2015

Journal of Civil Engineering and Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The impact of combustion products can be experienced over a longer distance than that of thermal radiation during a fire . Thus, there is a need to understand the dispersion characteristics of combustion products in a complex processing facility to estimate the toxic concentration and to take proactive safety measures . During occurrence of a fire, obstructed pathways, smoke, oxygen depletion, and thermal radiation would endanger the safety of people.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dadashzadeh et al studied the toxicity assessment of combustion products during an LNG fire in a process facility and compared the risk level at various locations of the facility. Combustion products dispersion from large tank fires, and acute and chronic health effects to fire fighters were investigated by Markatos et al using a CFD tool. Baalisampang et al, Pula et al, and Purser have conducted studies related to the toxicity assessment of combustion products.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling impacts of combustion products on humans in complex processing facilities

Tan

Garaniya

Baalisampang

et al. 2019

Process Safety Progress

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Heat radiation, combustion products, and flame engulfment are the main hazards from a fire event. Several reports have indicated that fire toxicity has caused greater numbers of human injuries and fatalities than those of heat radiation and flame engulfment. In a complex facility, the risk of fire toxicity increases significantly due to the difficulty of escaping in cases of emergency rescue and evacuation operations. This study proposes a methodology to model the impact of combustion products on humans. Several fire scenarios were considered to identify credible fire scenarios. In the most credible fire scenario, concentrations of combustion products over the layout of a facility were modeled. The results showed that the concentrations of CO and CO2 are below the short‐term exposure limit and lethal concentration 50 threshold limits at the considered time. The possible reasons for this are that the fire location was in a well‐ventilated area and equipment layouts were designed with proper safety gaps replicating a full‐scale dimension of an operating floating liquefied natural gas processing facility. The concentration of soot is above the threshold limit, and this has the potential to cause adverse health effects. This study can provide a tool for assessing fire toxicity in processing facilities, which will help improve safety measures.

show abstract

“…There are numerous accidents in past that resulted in deaths of workers due to combustion product toxic gases. In 2005, the massive fire at Buncefield Oil Storage Depots resulted in production of smoke that caused health problems for the workers [15]. The Piper Alpha disaster in 1998 resulted in loss of lives of 167 workers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Consequence Modelling for Fire Radiation and Combustion Product Toxicity in offshore Petroleum Platform using Risk Based Approach

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The processing area of offshore platform has high probability of leakage of hydrocarbons. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is one of the most common hydrocarbon produced in offshore platforms. Leakage of LNG can cause pool fire, jet fire, flash fire or fire ball. Thermal radiations due to fire is the major source of damage to workers on board. But due to fire, various combustion product toxic gases are also produced that have both acute and chronic health effects. These toxic gases can cause incapacitation, increased heart rate, vomiting and even death. Predicting the human injury due to thermal radiations and concentration of toxic gases are the key issues. A risk based approach takes in to consideration the duration a worker spent on different location of offshore platform and also it has the additive ability to evaluate overall risk due to fire radiation and toxic gases. Grid based approach helps in better visualization of risk posed by fire radiation and combustion product toxic gases at different locations of platform. The current study proposed an integrated consequence modelling approach for fire and combustion product toxic gases using risk based and grid based approaches. The integrated accident is modelled using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). The results showed that risk posed by thermal radiation is confined on sub cellar deck (lower deck) but estimated risk due to combustion product gas (carbon monoxide) on cellar deck (upper deck) has significant value that needs to be considered. The current approach would be useful for emergency preparedness plans and safety measures designs for offshore platforms.

show abstract

Mathematical modeling of toxic pollutants dispersion from large tank fires and assessment of acute effects for fire fighters

Cited by 37 publications

References 26 publications

A Global Relation of Fire Smoke Re-Circulation Behaviour in Urban Street Canyons

A Global Relation of Fire Smoke Re-Circulation Behaviour in Urban Street Canyons

Modeling impacts of combustion products on humans in complex processing facilities

Integrated Consequence Modelling for Fire Radiation and Combustion Product Toxicity in offshore Petroleum Platform using Risk Based Approach

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About