Experimental study on flame height of two oil tank fires under different lip heights and distances

Author: Zhang, Z. Y., Zong, R. W., Tao, C. F., Ren, J., Lu, S. X.

Journal: Process Safety and Environmental Protection

DOI:  10.1016/j.psep.2020.04.019

Keywords: Two oil tank fires, Lip height, Tank spacing, Flame height, Flame merging, pool fires, heat-transfer, burning rate, explosion, radiation

Abstract: 

The combustion behavior of two oil tank fires will be influenced by the interaction of their respective flames. This paper presents the experiments to investigate the evolution of the visible flame height of two oil tank fires under different diameters, lip heights and distances. The results show that when the tank spacing is small, the vortex structure plays an important role in the flame behavior showing an enhancement of the flame height. The flame height increases with the increase in lip height and reaches a local maximum value. The flame merging characteristic is influenced by the burner size and shape. A dimensionless model of the visible flame height of two oil tanks fire has been proposed, taking the tank diameter, lip height, and tank spacing into consideration. The correlation is validated using the experimental data. (C) 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.