Experimental study of coupling between the burning behaviors of fuel storage tanks and thin fuel pools

Abstract

Fires frequently result from fuel spills from burning storage tanks and can represent serious hazards. Previous studies have focused primarily on stand-alone pool or storage tank fires. In contrast, this work investigated storage tank fires combined with thin pool fires, focusing on a tank burning together with a pool, an empty tank in a burning pool and a stand-alone pool fire. The fuel pools are thin to be 4, 6, 8, 12, 16 and 20 mm. An emphasis was put on investigating coupled burning between the tank and pool by analyzing flame images, regression rates and heat transfer. A burning storage tank within a pool fire was found to exhibit an abrupt temperature increase of the heated fuel together with an initial increase in the regression rate in the tank followed by rapid stabilization. Following this, the rate greatly increased because of the surrounding pool fire, then decreased gradually but without achieving a quasi-steady state. Compared with a fuel tank in a pool fire, both an empty tank in a pool fire and a stand-alone pool fire showed higher pool regression rates. The results of this study enrich pool fire knowledge and will assist in developing practical fire preventions.