Analysis of BLEVE overpressure using spherical shock theory

Abstract

The near-field hazards from BLEVE including blast, ground force, drag loading from the rapid liquid phase change and projectiles. There are several correlations available in the literature for the far field blast overpressure from a BLEVE, usually requiring the calculation of the available expansion energy and the application of correction factors. However, there is very little information available for near-field effects and how this is affected by the details of vessel failure.This work presents near-field blast overpressure data and prediction models to fill in this gap. First, experimental measurements of overpressure in the near-field of a small scale cylindrical controlled BLEVE experiments with propane (V=0.6L, d =50mm, L=300mm) were performed. Then, this work establishes a prediction model based solely on the vapour phase properties at failure, using shock tube overpressure prediction and spherical shock propagation models.The model predicts well the strongest tests and is conservative with all the others. Scaling the model up to larger scale experimental data from literature shows that it is transposable, proposing a simple physics-based prediction model for BLEVE overpressure.