Finite Element Thermal Analysis of the Packing Container in Fire Environment

Abstract

The packing container is used in storage and transport of the high explosive (HE) material. The study concerns the safety of the packing container in fire environment. The spruce wood filled in the packing container can effectively resist heat transfer and protect HE material. The thermal analysis of the packing container in the pool fire environment is presented with the finite element method. When considering the water evaporation and the wood pyrolysis, the enthalpy curve of wood is presented in this study. Heat can be transferred from the fire to the packing container via convection and radiation. Thus, two thermal boundary conditions are applied to the thermal model of the packing container. The simulations show the inner temperature distributions of the packing container are significantly affected by the wood-column thickness. For the same time, the simulations show there is a slight difference in the char layer thickness between two thickness wood columns. The computed results show there are large temperature gradients in the interface of char and wood. This demonstrates the spruce wood is the excellent thermal resistance material.