Numerical Simulation of Leakage and Diffusion Process of LNG Storage Tanks

Xue Li, Ning Zhou, Bing Chen, Qian Zhang, Vamegh Rasouli, Xuanya Liu, Weiqiu Huang and Lingchen Kong
Additional contact information
Xue Li: School of Petroleum Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China
Ning Zhou: School of Petroleum Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China
Bing Chen: Institute of Industrial Safety, China Academy of Safety Science and Technology, Beijing 100012, China
Qian Zhang: School of Petroleum Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China
Vamegh Rasouli: College of Engineering & Mines, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202, USA
Xuanya Liu: Tianjin Fire Research Institute of MEM, Tianjin 300381, China
Weiqiu Huang: School of Petroleum Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China
Lingchen Kong: Changzhou Institute of Technology, Changzhou 213032, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-14

Abstract: To investigate the evolution process of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) liquid pool and gas cloud diffusion, the Realizable k - ? model and Eluerian model were used to numerically simulate the liquid phase leakage and diffusion process of LNG storage tanks. The experimental results showed that some LNG flashed and vaporized rapidly to form a combustible cloud during the continuous leakage. The diffusion of the explosive cloud was divided into heavy gas accumulation, entrainment heat transfer, and light gas drift. The vapor cloud gradually separated into two parts from the whole “fan leaf shape”. One part was a heavy gas cloud; the other part was a light gas cloud that spread with the wind in the downwind direction. The change of leakage aperture had a greater impact on the whole spill and dispersion process of the storage tank. The increasing leakage aperture would lead to 10.3 times increase in liquid pool area, 78.5% increase in downwind dispersion of methane concentration at 0.5 LFL, 22.6% increase in crosswind dispersion of methane concentration at 0.5 LFL, and 249% increase in flammable vapor cloud volume. Within the variation range of the leakage aperture, the trend of the gas cloud diffusion remained consistent, but the time for the liquid pool to keep stable and the gas cloud to enter the next diffusion stage was delayed. The low-pressure cavity area within 200 m of the leeward surface of the storage tank would accumulate heavy gas for a long time, forming a local high concentration area, which should be an area of focus for alert prediction.

Keywords: LNG leakage and diffusion; combustible cloud; phase change; plume flow; leakage aperture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/19/6282/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/19/6282/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:19:p:6282-:d:648704

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().