BLEVE, Fireball and Explosion

Useful formulas for BLEVE fireballs (CeSP, 1989) are given by equations 9.1-27 thru 9.1-30, where M = initial mass of flammable liquid (kg). The initial diameter describes the short duration initial ground level hemispherical flaming-volume before buoyancy lifts it to an equilibrium height. 

The thermal radiation received from the fireball on a target is given by equation 9.1-31, where Q is the radiation received by a black body target (kW/m ) r is the atmospheric transmissivity (dimensionless), E = surface emitted flux in kW/m , and f is a dimensionless view factor. 

The atmospheric transmissivity, t, greatly affects the radiation transmission by absorption and scattering by the separating atmosphere. Absorption may be as high as 20-40%. Pietersen and Huerta (1985) give a correlation that accounts for humidity (equation 9.1-31), where t = atmospheric transmissivity, = water partial pressure (Pascals), X = distance from flame surface to target (m). 

The heat flux, E, from BLEVEs is in the range 200 to 350 kW/m is much higher than in pool fires because the flame is not smoky. Roberts (1981) and Hymes (1983) estimate the surface heat flux as the radiative fraction of the total heat of combustion according to equation 9.1-32, where E is the surface emitted flux (kW/m ), M is the mass of LPG in the BLEVE (kg) h, is the heat of combustion (kJ/kg), is the maximum fireball diameter (m) f is the radiation fraction, (typically 0.25-0.4). t is the fireball duration (s). The view factor is approximated by equation 9.1-34. where D is the fireball diameter (m), and x is the distance from the sphere center to the target (m). At this point the radiation flux may be calculated (equation 9.1-30). 

Problem Size Duration and Flux from a BLEVE (CCSP, 1989) 

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