Computational Fluodynamics Modeling (CFD) of horizontal propane jet fires

With regard to pipeline transportation of hazardous material, the occurrence of a jet fire is one of the most common accidents in case of loss of containment. In light of this consideration, an appropriate estimation of the accident scenario is necessary to determine the magnitude of the risk and the required measures to avoid or mitigate the consequences. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) represents a valid tool to be used in this framework, because of its capability to describe the evolution of the accident, considering the obstacles and the site-specific factors. In this work, the capability of FLACS CFD code to simulate a propane horizontal jet fire is analyzed and the code is validated against experimental data. The parameters used for the validation are the jet fire geometrical characteristics and the flame temperature. The assessment is performed comparing different numerical models available in FLACS code in order to define the most appropriate to describe horizontal jet-fires. Then, the accuracy of simulation results is assessed using statistical performance metric parameters. In conclusion, results show that the FLACS CFD code is able to describe the horizontal jet fire phenomena in good accordance with experimental data, even though with a slight overprediction. On this basis, an initial study of the model proposed to simulate horizontal jet fire impingement on a pipe is conducted, and the possibility to use Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) CFD code to simulate horizontal jet fire is explored.