A Large Eddy Simulation of LNG Pool Fire on Board a Chemical/Oil Tanker

Abstract

The air pollution from maritime transportation has become one of the major environmental concerns. The liquefied natural gas (LNG) has better environmental performance compared to conventional ship fuels. Therefore, the use of LNG as ship fuel has recently gained more attention in the maritime industry. On the other hand, LNG as a fuel can have high risks of explosion and fire on ships. Among the various LNG ship fires, the pool fire is the most common phenomenon. Therefore, this study focuses on the LNG pool fire on board a chemical/oil tanker with different pool aspect ratios. Also, the effects of wind speed on the flame characteristics are investigated. The LNG pool fire on board a chemical/oil tanker is studied by using large eddy simulation approach and Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) code, numerically. The results show that the flame characteristics are affected markedly by the pool aspect ratio and wind speed. While the aspect ratio increases, the mean flame height reduces, whereas the heat flux values increases. It is also found that the heat flux values increase with the wind speed.