Experimental measurement of initial evaporation mass flows from gasoline spills and comparison with empirical models

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the evaporation mass flow originating from spills of gasoline. Large spills of gasoline may form during partial or complete roof sinkings or in the case of perforations at various deck fittings at external floating roof tanks used for the storage. Additionally, spills may form in the retention area in the case of leakages at pipes or at the hull. The aim is to predict the order of magnitude of real-scale evaporation mass flow. The determined evaporation mass flows will be used in a related project as input values for subsequent dispersion modeling in the vicinity of the tanks. This is relevant for questions of fire and explosion protection as well as for environmental protection aspects in tank farms or refineries, which use external floating roof tanks. The measurements presented in this paper were compared with predictions by empirical models and investigations of evaporations from small floor spills, round-bottom flask, or from Petri dishes published in the literature. The main goal of this paper is to test the applicability of empirical models to provide reasonable evaporation mass flows as input for CFD dispersion simulations.