Coupling dynamic blow down and pool evaporation model for LNG.

Treating the dynamic effects of accidental discharges of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is important for realistic predictions of pool radius. Two phenomena have important influence on pool spread dynamics, time-varying discharge (blow down) and pool ignition. Time-varying discharge occurs because a punctured LNG tanker or storage tank drains with a decreasing liquid head and decreasing head-space pressure. Pool ignition increases the evaporation rate of a pool and consequently decreases the ultimate pool area. This paper describes an approach to treat these phenomena in a dynamic pool evaporation model. The pool evaporation model developed here has two separate regimes. Early in the spill, momentum forces dominate and the pool spreads independently of pool evaporation rate and the corresponding heat transfer rate. After the average pool depth drops below a minimum value, momentum forces are largely dissipated and the thin edges of the pool completely evaporate, so pool area is established by the heat transfer rate. The maximum extent of a burning pool is predicted to be significantly less than that of an unignited pool because the duration of the first regime is reduced by higher heat transfer rates. The maximum extent of an LNG pool is predicted to be larger upon accounting for blow down compared with using a constant average discharge rate. However, the maximum pool extent occurs only momentarily before retreating.