Thermal exposure from large scale ethanol fuel pool fires
2015 (English)In: Fire safety journal, ISSN 0379-7112, E-ISSN 1873-7226, Vol. 78, p. 229-237Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The growing use of ethanol as fuel for combustion engines has dramatically increased the need for large scale storage of ethanol in tanks. There are new risks related to fires in storage tanks having larger volumes. Very little experimental data exist to support risk assessments regarding emitted radiation and burning rate for large pool fires. Experience from small scale tests show that the exposure to nearby surroundings is less for alcohols than for hydrocarbon fuels like gasoline and these results are often extrapolated to fires of large sizes. This paper describes the results of two pool fires conducted within the frame of the ETANKFIRE project, one with 97% ethanol and 3% gasoline and the other with 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, both with a surface area of 254 m2. The results show, contrary to experience from small scale pool fires, that the exposure to nearby surroundings is much larger for ethanol-rich fuels compared to the calculated radiative heat flux from a pure gasoline fire of same fuel area.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier Ltd , 2015. Vol. 78, p. 229-237
Keywords [en]
Alcohol, E85, Ethanol, Large scale pool fire, Plate thermometer, Radiation, Tank fire, Test, Alcohols, Digital storage, Fire protection, Fires, Fuel storage, Fuels, Gasoline, Heat flux, Heat radiation, Lakes, Risk assessment, Tanks (containers), Testing, Combustion engines, Emitted radiation, Plate thermometers, Pool fires, Radiative heat fluxes, Small-scale tests, Tank fires, Ethanol fuels
National Category
Engineering and Technology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-43920DOI: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2015.09.003Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84945922314OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-43920DiVA, id: diva2:1393007
2020-02-142020-02-142023-05-22Bibliographically approved