COMBUSTION OF LIQUID FUELS FLOATING ON WATER

Abstract

The research presented consists of a study of the burning characteristics of a liquid fuel floating on water with emphasis in the phenomena known as boilover. The problem is of technical interest in the petro-chemical industry, particularly from the point of view of pollution and fires resulting from accidental liquid fuel spills in open water. Testing with multicomponent fuels gives informations about events that can occur in a practical situation, while testing with single component fuels permits obtaining fundamental information about the problem. It evidences the major effects caused by the transfer of heat from the fuel to the water underneath. One of these effects is the disruptive burning of the fuel known as boilover, that is caused by the water boiling and splashing, and results in a sharp increase in burning rate and often in the explosive burning of the fuel. It is shown that this event is caused by the onset of water boiling nucleation at the fuel/water interface and that it occurs at an approximate constant temperature that is above the saturation temperature of the water (water is superheated). These measurements conducted in two laboratories, address the major issues of the process by analyzing the effect of the variation of the parameters of the problem (initial fuel-layer thickness, pool diameter, and fuel type), on the burning rate, time to start of boilover, pre-boilover mass ratio, and boilover intensity. Finnaly, two types of modeling are proposed to describe the heat transfer in fuel and water phases: one simple for practical purposes, the other, more elaborated and transient, taking particularly into consideration the radiation in depth.

Dates

  • Submission Date2006-04-15
  • Revision Date2006-11-01
  • Acceptance Date2006-11-15

DOI Reference

10.2298/TSCI0702119G

References

  1. Hall, H., Mechanical Engineering, 47 (1925), 7, pp. 540-544
  2. Burgoyne, J. H., Katan, L. L., Journal of Institute of Petroleum, 33 (1947), 279, pp.158-191
  3. Hasegawa, K., Experimental Study on the Mechanism of Hot Zone Formation in Open-Tank Fires, Proceedings, 2nd International Symposium of Fire Safety Science, New York, USA, 1989, pp. 221-230
  4. Broeckmann, B., Schecker, H. G., Heat Transfer Mechanism and Boilover in Burning Oil-Water Systems, Journal of Loss Prevention and Process Industries, 8 (1995), 3, pp. 137-147
  5. Petty, S. E., Combustion of Crude-Oil on Water, Fire Safety Journal, 5 (1983), 2, pp. 123-134
  6. Twardus, E. M., Brzustowski, T. A., The Burning of Crude-Oil Spilled on Water, Archivum Combustionis, Polish Academy of Sciences, 1 (1981), 1-2, pp. 49-60
  7. Brzustowski, T. A., Twardus, E. M., A Study of the Burning of a Slick of Crude-Oil on Water, Proceedings, 19th Symposium (Int.) on Combustion, 1982, The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA, 1983, pp. 847-854
  8. Arai, M., Saito, K., Altenkirch, R., A Study of Boilover in Liquid Pool Fires Supported on Water. Part I: Effect of a Water Sublayer on Pool Fires, Combustion Science and Technology, 71 (1990),1-3, pp. 25-40
  9. Ito, A., Inamura, T., Saito, K., Holographic Interferometry Temperature Measurements in Liquids for Pool Fires Supported on Water, ASME Transactions: Journal of Heat Transfer, 114 (1992), 3, pp. 944-949
  10. Koseki, H., Mulholland, G. W., The Effect of Diameter on the Burning of Crude-Oil Pool Fires, Fire Technology, 27 (1991), 1, pp. 54-65
  11. Koseki, H., Kokkala, M., Mulholland, G. W., Experimental Study of Boilover in Crude-Oil Fires, Proceedings, 3rd International Symposium of Fire Safety Science, Elsevier, London, New York, 1991, pp. 865-874
  12. Inamura, T., Saito, K., Tagavi, K. A., A Study of Boilover in Liquid Pool Fires Supported on Water. Part II: Effects of In-Depht Radiation Absorption, Combustion Science and Technology, 86 (1992), 1-6, pp.105-119
  13. Garo, J. P., Vantelon J. P., Fernandez-Pello, A. C., Boilover Burning of Oil Spilled on Water, Proceedings, 25th Symposium (Int.) on Combustion, 1994, The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA, 1995, pp. 1481-1488
  14. Fan, W. C., Hua, J. S., Liao, G. X., Experimental Study on the Premonitory Phenomena of Boilover in Liquid Pool Fires Supported on Water, Journal of Loss Prevention and Process Industries, 8 (1995), 4, pp. 221-227
  15. Garo, J. P., Vantelon, J. P., Fernandez-Pello, A. C., Effect of the Fuel Boiling Point on the Boilover Burning of Liquid Fuels Spilled on Water, Proceedings, 26th Symposium (Int.) on Combustion, 1996, The Combustion Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA, 1997, pp. 1461-1467
  16. Hua, J. S., Fan, W. C., Liao, G. X., Study and Prediction of Boilover in Liquid Pool fires with Water Sublayer Using Micro-Explosion Noise Phenomena, Fire Safety Journal, 30 (1998), 3, pp. 269-291
  17. Garo, J. P., Vantelon, J. P., Gandhi, S., Torero, J. L., Determination of the Thermal Efficiency of Pre-Boilover Burning of a Slick of Oil on Water, Spill Science and Technology Bulletin, 5 (1999), 2, pp. 141-151
  18. Garo, J. P., Gillard, Ph., Vantelon, J. P., Fernandez-Pello, A. C., Combustion of Liquid Fuels Spilled on Water. Prediction to Time to Start Boilover, Combustion Science and Technology, 147 (1999), 1-6, pp. 39-59
  19. Torero, J. L., Olenick, S. M., Garo, J. P., Vantelon J. P., Determination of the Burning Characteristics of a Slick of Oil on Water, Spill Science and Technology Bulletin, 8 (2003), 4, pp. 379-390
  20. Chatris, J. M., Planas, E., Arnaldos, J., Casal, J., Effects of Thin-Layer Boilover on Hydrocarbon Pool Fires, Combustion Science and Technology, 171 (2001), 1, pp. 141-161
  21. Chatris, J. M., Quintela, J., Folch, J., Planas, E., Arnaldos, J., Casal, J., Experimental Study of Burning Rate in Hydrocarbon Pool Fires, Combustion and Flame, 126 (2001), 1-2, pp. 1373-1383
  22. Blander, M., Katz, J. L., Bubble Nucleation in Liquids, AICHE Journal, 21 (1975), 5, pp. 834-848
  23. Collier, J. G., Convection Boiling and Condensation, Mc Graw Hill, Maindenhead, Berkshire, England, 1981
  24. Lasheras, J. C., Fernandez-Pello, A. C., Dryer, F. L., Initial Observations on the Free Droplet Combustion Characteristics of Water-in-Fuel Emulsions, Combustion Science and Technology, 21 (1979), 1-2, pp. 1-14
  25. Ghoshdastidar, P. S., Mukhopadhyay, A., Transient Heat Transfer from a Straight Composite Fin: a Numerical Solution by ADI, International Comm. Heat and Mass Transfer, 16 (1989), 2, pp. 257-265
Volume 11, Issue 2, Pages119 -140