EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS

SUMMARY

A project has been undertaken in response to a research brief to develop a computer model to predict the water distribution on the surface of vessels containing pressurised flammable materials protected by directed water deluge systems. The model is intended to be an integral component of new improved guidelines, currently under development, for the design of such water deluge systems. The aims of the project were to build on an existing basic model, extending its range of applicability to a wide range of tank sizes and water deluge designs. The model would be built into a user-friendly computer code enabling it to be widely applied in industry by non-specialist users. This report discusses the standardisation of techniques for practical measurement of the water distribution on the tank surface, and describes development of the model to deal with large diameter horizontal, cylindrical tanks, and water deluge system designs comprising up to 5 rows of nozzles. The development of a user-friendly front-end interface for the model, which has been incorporated into a stand-alone Windows software program is also described in this report. Predictions of water distributions across the surface of storage vessels obtained using the model, have been validated against measured (experimental) data and a close level of agreement to within 7% has been demonstrated.

This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the author(s) alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy