Jet Fire Pressure Vessel

2007 12 7

1. Objectives
[Objectives] Hydrocarbon Jet Fire Pressure Vessel 1) New Design Requirements:
Safety-based design Pressure vessel failure analysis Application of passive fire protection (PFP) on pressure vessels

2) Recommended Practice (API) 3) New Perspective 4) Acceptance Criteria 5) Example

2. Fire Protection of Equipment

[Heat Exposure of Process Equipment]

Jet Fire

[Fire Protection of Process System]

Emergency Shutdown (ESD), Depressurization SDVs, BDVs Active Fire Protection (AFP) Deluge, Hydrant/Hose Reel, etc. Passive Fire Protection (PFP) Fire Wall, PFP on Vessel/Piping

3. Recommended Practice
[Recommended Practice]
Standards: API 520 and 521.

[Background]
The recommended Heat Load is based on experiments performed before last world war and consider only pool fire load. Some experiments were originally for use by the rubber industry. The standard is widely used in areas where jet fire can occur. Emergency response time is not considered.

4. API Requirements
[API Fire Load]
900 800 Absorbed effect [kW] 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 0 10 20 Wetted area [m2] 30 40 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 Heat flux to wetted area [kW/m2]

15 10 5 0

q = 43 . 2 FA

0 . 18

Q = 43 . 2 FA

0 . 82

[kW/m2], average unit heat absorption [kW], total heat absorption to wetted surface

F: environment factor, A: total wetted area

5

4. API Requirements
[API Acceptance Criteria]
An alternative is to provide depressuring on all equipment that processes light hydrocarbons and set the depressured rate to achieve 100 psig (6.9 barg) or 50 percent of the vessel Design Pressure, whichever is lower, in 15 minutes.
Time History of Internal Pressure and Average Temperature of Vessel Shell

3 000 2 500 Pressure [kPa] 2 000 1 500 API 520 Criteria

1400 1200 1000 800 600 Temperature [C]

1 000 500 0 0 2 4 6 8 Time [min] Pressure in vessel Max. average steel temperature 10 12 14

400 200 0

4. API Requirements
[API Acceptance Criteria - coverage]
Time History of Yield Stress, Applied Stress and Average Temperature of Vessel Shell

100 90 80 Stress [N/mm2] 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0

1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 70.0 Temperature []

API criteria
UTS

Time [min]

Calculated stress of shell

Max. average steel temperature

5. New Perspective
[Features]
New fire loads heating both gas and liquid zone. Each segment is considered as a whole. Depressurization time must coincide with strength of material in segmentobjects. Process integrity is linked to time for evacuation. Inventory composition is important.

[Reference]
Guidance for the Design and Analysis of Fire Response of Pressurized Systems, Statoil, Hydro, Scandpower Guidelines for the Design and Protection of Pressure Systems to withstand Severe Fires, Institute of Petroleum, London Technical Safety, S-001, NORSOK VessFire User Manual, Petrell AS
8

5. New Perspective
[Design of Depressurization]
System and scenario information

Estimate size of depressurization orifice Calculate P(t) for the process segment and T(t) for the steel Improve Design / apply PFP Increase orifice size No Is flare capacity utilized? Yes No Are the consequence of the rupture acceptable? Yes Will equipt/ pipe rupture? No OK Failure criteria

6. Acceptance Criteria
[Acceptance Criteria (principles)]
The main strategy is to avoid escalation of accidents. A small fire leading to a big fire is not acceptable. A big fire leading to a minor additional leakage can be acceptable. This is called a secondary leakage.

Concerns of PFP application:

Increase corrosion of material Reduce possibilities of inspection and maintenance of equipment Increase weight Increase need for space Increase need for maintenance of the PFP Increase cost

10

6. Acceptance Criteria
[Acceptance Criteria (detailed)]
1. If either of the following is exceeded, rupture is considered unacceptable:
Released quantity of HC (Gas + Liquid) > 4 tons, Released quantity of the sum of Gas > 1 ton, Pressure at time of rupture of Pressure Vessel > 4.5 barg (Note 1), Pressure at time of rupture of Piping > 20 barg (Note 2), Rupture prior to 3 minutes after the onset of the fire (Note 3).

2. The time criterion is based on time to evacuate the area in the vicinity of the fire. 3. For flare system rupture should not occur (need for improved support of flare piping and header systems, e.g. application of PFP). 4. For small bore gas piping, ruptures causing gas release rates > 2 kg/s are considered unacceptable.
NOTE:
1) 2) 3) Segments containing < 100 kg gas at time of rupture are allowed to rupture irrespective of pressure in the system. Max allowable pressure in vessels and pipes differ due to high risk of missile effects following a vessel rupture. Time criterion is based on time to evacuate area in vicinity of fire.

11

7. Heat Load
[Net Heat Transfer to Object]
qnet = s f Tr4 + h(T f Ts (t )) s Ts (t ) 4
qnet: net heat transfer to object, W/m2 s: emissivity of the surface material (0.85) s: absorptivity of the surface material (0.85) f: emissivity of flame (1.0) : Stefan-Boltsman constant, 5.6710-8 W/m2K4 Tr: radiation temperature of flame, K Tf: flame gas temperature, K Ts(t): surface temperature of the material, K h: convective heat transfer coefficient, kW/m2K hjet
fire

= 100 kW/m2K

hpool fire / diffusive fire = 30 kW/m2K

12

7. Heat Load
[Heat Load and Exposure Time for Jet Fire]
Jet Fire Heat Load Local peak heat load (for steel temperature calc.) Global average heat load (for pressure calc. in the system) NOTE:
1) 2)

1),2)

For leak rates m > 2 kg/s 350 kW/m2 100 kW/m2

For leak rates m > 0.1 kg/s 3) 250 kW/m2 0 kW/m2

Pool Fire 150 kW/m2 100 kW/m2

NORSOK S-001: Peak & Average Heat Load = 250 kW/m2 For jet fires, two (2) different Scenarios shall be analyzed separately, but not be combined: For the time period t, mleak > 2.0 kg/s, use 350 kW/m2 For the time period t, mleak > 0.1 kg/s, use 250 kW/m2 ,
t is the time from start of the fire until the leak rate is reduced below mleak=0.1 kg/s

where, t is the time from start of the fire until the leak rate is reduced below mleak=2 kg/s
3)

This calculation is for an object located close to the leak source. The heat flux will vary during the fire duration, and 250 kW/m2 is used as the average incident heat flux. 13

8. Example - Input
[Properties for Vessel]
Vessel
Separator

Wall thick.
55 mm

Length
15,000 mm

Dia.
3,700 mm

Vol.
161.3 m3

Phase
Liquid & Gas

Shell Matl
CS 360 LT

R.O Size
68.1 mm

Oper. Press.
62 barg

Oper. Temp.
37 C

[Fluid Composition]
H2S
1.103

CO2
2.647

N2
0.191

CH4
37.889

C2H6
4.852

C3H8
2.373

Butane
1.580

Pentane
1.014

Others
7.963

H2O
40.388

[Others]
Water Level: 673 mm, HC Level: 1,814 mm Jet Fire Heat flux for Max. point/average load: 250 kW/m2 Manual field depressurisation sequence is considered initiated after 3 minutes from detection of initial fire or gas. Software: VessFire Ver.1.2 (Petrell AS)
14

8. Example - Result
[Calculation Results]

15

8. Example - Conclusion
[Conclusion]
The temperature of shell reaches about 900 C after 40 minutes. The vessel can be failed after 32 minutes. If emergency response (evacuation) time when fired requires more than 32 minutes, Passive Fire Protection (PFP) for the separator is recommended.

[Additional Issues]
Application of PFP on Flare Header is recommended in most offshore projects. How to minimize the application of PFP. The integrity of the connected piping, flanges, etc. from vessels to SDVs shall be analyzed.

16