Leakage risk analysis of ethane tank group based on FEM numerical calculation

Abstract:
Large quantities of flammable and explosive ethane are stored in large ethane storage tanks. Once the leakage occurs, it will cause great harm to the surrounding people, property and atmospheric environment. At present, there are few studies on leakage and diffusion of ethane storage tank group. In order to better study the leakage and diffusion laws of ethane storage tanks, this paper uses fluent software to simulate the leakage and diffusion process of ethane storage tanks. A twodimensional numerical calculation of ethane tank leakage was carried out. Firstly, the influence of wind speed on leakage and diffusion of the ethane storage tank was analyzed, and then the influence of leakage rate, leakage hole, and leakage location on leakage and diffusion of the ethane storage tank were analyzed. The results show that the leakage and diffusion of ethane storage tanks are greatly affected by the ambient wind speed. As the wind speed increases, the diffusion range of ethane expands. As the leakage rate of the ethane storage tank increases, ethane diffusion is not affected by the environmental wind speed. Leakage rate and environmental wind speed will cause ethane diffusion gas clouds under certain conditions, which will do great harm to the environmental area near the storage tank. With the increase of leakage holes, the diffusion concentration range of ethane leakage is wider. When the tank leaks against the wind, the environmental wind speed has the greatest influence on ethane diffusion, which has the widest diffusion area and the largest gas cloud concentration area. The results can be used as a reference for the prediction of leakage and diffusion of ethane tank groups and can provide a reference for the formulation of emergency protection strategies.