Flash Fire: Historical Analysis and Modeling

摘要

Among major accidents, different types of fire can occur: pool fire, jet fire, flash fire or fireball. A flash fire is the combustion of a vapor cloud resulting from the escape of a flammable material, which after mixing with the air reaches an ignition source. This paper provides an overview of flash fires, which are rather poorly known when compared to other types of fires. Although these events have a relatively short duration, they are capable of producing high levels of radiation. In order to determine the significance of this phenomenon, a historical analysis of accidents involving flash fire has been carried out. 176 accidents have been analyzed, most of them taken from MHIDAS database. The causes, substances involved and consequences on the population are reported. The sequences of accidents involving a flash fire have been also analyzed. In addition the diverse aspects related to flash fire modeling are commented and the few models proposed by different authors are analyzed.