Modeling Big Natural Gas Fires

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration of the US Department of Transportation has contracted Sandia National Labs in the USA to develop a model evaluation protocol (MEP) for liquified natural gas (LNG) fires. To date, six sets of experiments have been selected, including fireball experiments conducted by Shell Research in the UK, 3 m to 83 m diameter pool fires conducted at Sandia, and jet fire experiments conducted by GL Noble Denton in Cumbria, UK. The FDS input and output files for these experiments have been committed to the FDS GitHub repository and can be used by those considering using FDS for LNG fire applications. The MEP is expected to be published in 2022.