Fire Test for the Safety in Transport and Storage of Dangerous Goods

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a test carried out to show that a rail wagon partially filled with 5.1 tones propane and subjected to a full fire engulfment can fail within 15 minutes as less than 28 bar test pressure, even if the fire does not fully envelop the tank. The fireball - resulting from a bursting tank in which released propane evaporates instantly and then ignites (BLEVE) - which had a diameter of approx. 100 m as well as the distance that some of the fragments flew (up to 200 m) indicate that a fire situation will in a relatively short time cause a serious danger. Fire brigade is considered unsuitable as in the short time; the fire brigade cannot provide suitable measures to protect the tank(s) against a BLEVE. To ensure the safe handling of LPG, but also to protect third parties, animals, material assets and the environment, it is necessary to adhere to defined safety engineering principles. In designing fire protection measures, it is decisive to determine what type of fire hazard is to be covered for a transfer station or a distribution depot, so that adequate protection against overheating is provided for the railway tank wagon respectively the storage tank and also the tank vehicle to prevent a possible tank failure. To sum up the results of this test, it can be said - at least as far as fire situations are concerned - rail wagons in LPG transfer stations should be safety-engineered to the some requirements as storage tanks set up stationarily.