Iran Occupational Health

Background and aims: Accidents happened as a result of LPG leakage emphasizes the importance of the consequence analysis of fire and explosion in LPG storage tanks. The purpose of this study is to analysis the consequences of fire and explosion in a cylindrical LPG storage tank in an oil and gas industry.

Method: In this analytical study, four possible failure scenarios including 1) rupture in the cylindrical LPG tank 2) leakage from the loading line 3) leakage from the tank manhole and 4) undesirable opening of the safety valve, and their fire and explosion consequences were simulated by PHAST software. Then the results were compared with existing standards

Results: The scenario of tank rupture leads to a radiation flux 37.5 kw/m² affect a radius of 290 m from tank location that can cause major life and property losses. As the result of a flash fire due to the tanker rupture, there is a possibility of life-threatening to a radius of 520 m. An explosion (resulting from the tank rupture) with blast wave of 0.2 bar affect a radius of 2092 m that can cause the life and property losses. The scenario of leakage from the tank manhole leads to jet fire, explosion and flash fire. Also, the jet fire and flash fire will follow by the scenarios of leakage from the loading and undesirable opening of the safety valve.

Conclusion: With attention to severity the tank rupture and the likelihood of occurrence of the domino effect, it is recommended to substitute the horizontal cylindrical LPG tanks by the spherical ones. Also, an emergency response plan should be established based on the result of this study.

Keywords: Consequence Analysis, Fire, Explosion, LPG Tank, PHAST