Results of 40-M exp 3 LNG Spills onto Water

摘要

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is conducting safety research under the sponsorship of the US Department of Energy (DOE) to determine the possible consequences of liquefied natural gas (LNG) spills. The LLNL program includes both the collection of data from various size experiments and development of an ensemble of computer models to make predictions for conditions under which tests cannot be performed. In spills of 40 cubic metres (m exp 3 ) of liquefied natural gas onto water done at the Naval Weapons Center (NWC), China Lake, California in 1980 and 1981, data was collected on gas cloud dispersion and combustion and rapid phase transition (RPT) explosions. Analysis of the data from these tests, including comparisons between the predictions of various models and the data, are presented. The results suggest that large-scale spills may be more hazardous than would have been predicted based on earlier small-scale tests.