Formation of the vapour cloud
25 The Third Progress Report described extensive tests undertaken to model the behaviour of fuel escaping from Tank 912 during overfilling. Tank 912 was fitted with a deflector plate, installed to direct water from sprinklers on the tank’s top to its sides to provide cooling in the event of fire. The tests demonstrated that the deflector plate channelled some of the escaped fuel onto the tank wall, but the rest ran over the top of the plate, fragmenting into droplets that cascaded through the air. Most of the fuel running down the wall hit a wind girder (a structural stiffening ring) and detached from the tank wall, creating a second cascade of droplets.
26 These conditions would promote the evaporation of the lighter components of petrol, eg butanes, pentanes and hexanes. The free-fall of droplets leads to entrainment of air and mixing between the air and fuel vapour, and the formation of a rich fuel/air mixture. Cooling of the surrounding air, already saturated with water vapour by the evaporation, would cause some of the water content to precipitate as an ice mist, which is consistent with the cloud of mist visible onCCTV. The fuel/air mixture and its accompanying ice mist were heavier than air and so were initially contained within the bund. As the volume of the mixture grew from the continuing overfilling of the tank, it flowed out of the bund, dispersing and flowing off site. Further mixing with the air would have reduced the vapour concentration to the point where significant volumes of the mixture could support an explosion.12
27 Since publication of the Third Progress Report, further work to simulate the overflow of liquid from the full height of Tank 912 has confirmed the pattern of fuel dispersal and vaporisation shown in Figure 2.
Formation of the vapour cloud25 The Third Progress Report described extensive tests undertaken to model the behaviour of fuel escaping from Tank 912 during overfilling. Tank 912 was fitted with a deflector plate, installed to direct water from sprinklers on the tank’s top to its sides to provide cooling in the event of fire. The tests demonstrated that the deflector plate channelled some of the escaped fuel onto the tank wall, but the rest ran over the top of the plate, fragmenting into droplets that cascaded through the air. Most of the fuel running down the wall hit a wind girder (a structural stiffening ring) and detached from the tank wall, creating a second cascade of droplets.26 These conditions would promote the evaporation of the lighter components of petrol, eg butanes, pentanes and hexanes. The free-fall of droplets leads to entrainment of air and mixing between the air and fuel vapour, and the formation of a rich fuel/air mixture. Cooling of the surrounding air, already saturated with water vapour by the evaporation, would cause some of the water content to precipitate as an ice mist, which is consistent with the cloud of mist visible onCCTV. The fuel/air mixture and its accompanying ice mist were heavier than air and so were initially contained within the bund. As the volume of the mixture grew from the continuing overfilling of the tank, it flowed out of the bund, dispersing and flowing off site. Further mixing with the air would have reduced the vapour concentration to the point where significant volumes of the mixture could support an explosion.1227 Since publication of the Third Progress Report, further work to simulate the overflow of liquid from the full height of Tank 912 has confirmed the pattern of fuel dispersal and vaporisation shown in Figure 2.
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