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art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Gas supply systems typically located at the engine room space of LNG gas-fueled ships, present potential
Received 10 May 2015 threats for re and explosion due to gas leakage and dispersion. A validated Computational Fluid
Accepted 17 November 2015 Dynamics (CFD) model is proposed for natural gas dispersion analysis in an engine room space under
Available online 8 December 2015
multi-factor coupling. Results demonstrate that gas dispersion depends on leakage rate, position and
Keywords: direction of release, temperature gradient, ventilation and the machinery equipment located in the
CFD engine room. Under the impact of air ow, temperature gradient and gas-buoyancy, natural gas tends to
Natural gas dispersion accumulate on the top of the engine room space, which can be pumped out through air-outlets. Natural
Engine room space gas is likely to concentrate at areas where vortex ows generate. Effective arrangement and locations of
Gas detector
gas detectors are discussed considering the variation of gas concentration at several selected point within
the engine room space.
& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction used and validated for a great number of analyses of dense gas
dispersion in indoor and outdoor environments (Luketa-Hanlin
Design of LNG gas-fueled ships currently receives considerable et al., 2007; Paik et al., 2010; Meroney, 2012; Siddiqui et al., 2012;
research and development focus within the maritime industry, as Sun et al., 2013). As for buoyant gas, like hydrogen and natural
they provide a robust solution platform for compliance with strict gas (Prasad et al., 2011), have merely assessed the capability of a
emission regulation and economic effectiveness (Stanley et al., 2007). CFD software package to simulate the dispersion of buoyant gases
Fuel storage tanks are lled with LNG through bunkering, which is in a partially conned geometry, aiming at the dispersion behavior
then vaporized to natural gas when passing through the evaporator of highly buoyant gases. (Ivings and Santon, 2009) have made
and transported into the engine room space. In this process, pipelines great contributions on area classication of natural gas installa-
in engine room space may perforate, crack or break owing to several tions, then focusing on the effectiveness of the ventilation for
factors like material aging, mechanical vibration, or corrosion. As a preventing the buildup of natural gas. They have validated a CFD
result, accidental leakage and dispersion of natural gas may occur, model using tracer gas, as discussed in Section 2.2 of this paper,
leading to re and explosion (Salem, 2010). and developed a method for the assessment of ventilation effec-
Modeling leakages and dispersion of natural gas is the most tiveness by considering the average gas concentration across the
critical step in assessing these re and explosion risks in engine air-outlets. Newton et al. (2014) assessed the use of CFD to model
the ventilation of a working marine vessel. This represents a sig-
room space. Many traditional models and methods used for gas
nicant undertaking when utilized in the design stage of opti-
dispersion in atmosphere are available to simulate the dispersion
mized ventilation systems for engine rooms. However, this
of hazardous gas (Rigas et al., 2003; Labovsky and Jelemensky,
research did not consider the hazardous gas dispersion.
2011). These models are simplications of the conservation
This paper presents research on the modeling of natural gas
equations for mass, momentum and energy, and are only suitable
dispersion in engine room spaces of LNG gas-fueled ships, con-
for gas dispersion in the open air. However, CFD models have been
siderably more complex indoor environments, with focus on the
extensively used for more complex environments within buildings
impact of large volume, leakage rate, direction and position of
or manufacturing plant that should consider the impact of bar-
release, presence of complex obstacles (machinery equipment),
riers, ventilation and the location of detectors. Currently, CFD is temperature gradient and ventilation. Effective arrangement and
location of gas detectors is required in ventilating such enclosed
n
Corresponding author. Tel.: 86 15072433854; fax: 86 27 86560042. spaces. The application of a validated commercial CFD code, CFX, is
E-mail address: tobeloyalty@163.com (X.J. Li). described in illustrating diffusion law in the engine room space of
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2015.11.018
0029-8018/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
X.J. Li et al. / Ocean Engineering 111 (2016) 524532 525
LNG gas-fueled ships. A validated CFD model is detailed concern- shear-stress transport (SST) k model is accurate in simulating
ing the inuence of buoyancy and thermal force, mainly empha- the indoor dispersion of natural gas.
sizing the k based shear-stress transport (SST) model. Gas The SST model has the characteristic of effectively blending
leakage and dispersion is then simulated under multi-factor cou- robustness in the near-wall region with the free-stream indepen-
pling. A case study on the effective location arrangement of gas dence of the k model in the far eld. This model gives highly
detectors is presented aiming to demonstrate the mitigation of accurate predictions of the onset and the amount of ow separa-
accidental release consequences. tion under adverse pressure gradients. Eqs. (4) and (5) are the
transport equations for the SST k model.
k
2. CFD model for natural gas dispersion U Uk U t k P k P kb 'k 4
t k3
2.1. CFD modeling approach
1
U U U t 1 F 1 2 k
The NavierStokes equations are applied to this case, as dis-
t 3 2
persion in engine room space is a viscous ow, with transport 3 P k P b b 3 2 5
k
phenomena of friction and thermal conduction included. In addi-
tion, dispersion is a turbulent ow bringing about uctuating ow where P k is the turbulence production due to viscous forces, using
variables. Reynolds time-averaging procedures are used to smooth Eq. (6).
out these uctuations adding Reynolds-averaged NavierStokes 2
(RANS) equations and turbulence model. Eqs. (1) and (2) are the P k t U U U U T U U 3t U U k 6
3
continuity and the momentum conservation equations, respec-
tively. When the Boussinesq buoyancy model is being applied, the
buoyancy production Pkb is modeled as
divU 0 1 t
t P kb g U T 7
where is the density of mixed gas, and U is the velocity
vector. The additional buoyancy term in the equation reads:
ui p u
ui uj u'i u'j t i P b 3 1C 3 maxP kb ; 0 P kb 8
t xj xi xj xj xj k
uj where the coefcients of this model, 3 ; 3 ; k3 and 3 are a
a g 2
xi t xi linear combination of the corresponding coefcients shown as
where t is the turbulent viscosity and a is the density of air. 3 F 1 1 1 F 1 2 9
Additional terms for the Reynolds stress u0i u0j are included,
where F1 is the blending function. The values of the coefcients
representing the effects of turbulence, which vary highly and their
used are the following (ANSYS, 2009):
spatial and temporal dependence cannot be expressed in simple
algebraic terms. These Reynolds stresses must be modeled for Eq. ' 0:09; 1 5=9; 1 0:075; k1 2; 1 2; 2 0:04;
(2) to be representative. The Boussinesq hypothesis is a common 2 0:0828; k2 2; 2 1=0:856
method to relate the Reynolds stresses to the mean velocity gra-
dients, as Eq. (3) illustrates. Based on the rst law of thermodynamics and Fourier law of
heat conduction, Eq. (10) represents the energy equation for a uid
u uj 2 u
ui uj t i k t k ij 3 element within the ow.
xj xi 3 xk !
T 1 T C pv C pa t ci T
The Boussinesq hypothesis is used in the SpalartAllmaras ui T Kt 10
model, k and k models. According to Ivings et al. (2010), the
t xi C p xi xi Cp c xi xi
526 X.J. Li et al. / Ocean Engineering 111 (2016) 524532
various fuels. areas with large gradients, such as air inlets, outlets and gas
The heat emission from the main engines and generator, leakage areas. The Pressure-Implicit with Splitting of Operators
(kW), shall be taken as follows: (PISO) pressurevelocity coupling scheme is applied, which is
based on the higher degree of the approximate relation between
hd
P 13 the corrections for pressure and velocity. Second-Order Upwind
100
Scheme is selected as the spatial discretization for governing
where P is the service standard power of the main diesel engine equations using a multidimensional linear reconstruction
or diesel generator at maximum continuous rating, in kilowatts; approach. As for transient formulation, the so-called temporal
hd is the heat loss from the diesel engine, in kW. discretization, a second order implicit method, is used for
4. Mass ow for gas leakage is calculated as follows. achieving higher accuracy. The residuals convergence criterion is
10 6 for energy and 10 3 for all other equations. The time step is
According to American Petroleum Institute (API, 2008), small set to 10 s for small leakage and 5 s for medium leakage with 20
release (06.35 mm) and medium release (6.3550.8 mm) are the iterations per time step required to reach the limited residuals.
typical release modes for gas pipe (D 50 mm). There are two Prior to leakage and dispersion of natural gas, a steady-state air
regimes for ow of gases or vapors through an orice: sonic for ow eld is calculated. After a converged solution is obtained for
higher internal pressures and subsonic ow for lower pressures. that, the time-dependent simulations are carried out with the
The release rate of LNG gas supply system is computed using Eq. steady-state air ow as for the initial condition.
(13), which is based on discharge of gases and vapors at sonic
velocity through an orice. Thus, 0.008267 kg/s and 0.13228 kg/s
are calculated for mass ow of small and medium release, 4. Results and discussion
respectively.
s
0:9 U dn
2
k UMW 2 Three typical scenarios, Scenario L1, L2 and L3, are dened with
K 1
Wn U UP s K 1 14 different positions and directions of Leaks, as Fig. 1 shows. Relea-
1000 4 RUTs k1
ses are assumed to last for 600 s for small leakage and 150 s for
where Wn is the theoretical release rate associated with the medium leakage. All the gures below shows trend of the volume
nth release hole size, kg/s; dn is the specic release hole dia- fraction of methane to discover regularity of gas dispersion in an
meter, mm; Ps is the normal operating pressure, kPa; K is the engine room space.
release uid ideal gas specic heat capacity ratio; MW is the
release uid molecular weight, kg/mol; R is the universal gas 4.1. Steady air ow
constant, 8314 J/(mol K); and Ts is the storage or normal operating
temperature, K. Figs. 3 and 4 show the steady air ow eld and temperature
eld, respectively. These gures illustrate that vortex ows occur
3.3. Solution under the interaction of walls and machinery equipment, which go
against the gas dilution and heat emissions. Intensive ow with
The engine room space is meshed using the Hypermesh Soft- relative high velocity is near the wall, which is benecial for gas
ware, with 1,259,127 elements and 232,534 nodes, as illustrated in dilution as the gas pipelines are positioned there. Furthermore,
Fig. 2. To obtain high grid quality, grid renement is applied in rareed ow with low velocity on the top between inlets and
outlet leads to gas concentration near the wall. Due to heat release
Table 1 from machinery equipment, high temperature gradients are gen-
thermal conditions. erated, which may affect gas buoyancy.
No. Wall name Heat ux (w/m2) Temperature (K)
4.2. Small leakage
1 Generator 960
2 Compressor 2150 Fig. 5 illustrates small leakage for Scenario L3, as dened in
3 Main engine 2500
Section 3.1, at a joint of gas supply piping. As the simulation
4 Others 300
progresses with time, the gas dispersion area grows up slowly due
to a small amount of discharge and diluting by the air ow. through the air-outlets. Similar to small leakage, the amount of
Although gas spreads around with time and total gas increases, the ammable gas uctuated in some area in the stage of jet.
amount of natural gas in the range of combustible concentration Fig. 7 describes the medium leakage of Scenario L2 releasing
(0.050.15) gathers in limited space, from red color to light blue straight down to the oor. Affected by eddy current, gas cloud
color as Fig. 5 shows. This is caused by the fact that the amount of concentrates in the corner of engine room space and near the
leakage is limited and could be easily diluted. Moreover, non- ceiling within a short time. Besides, jet is blocked by the oor
ammable gas below the 0.05 concentration, could be detected as bringing about the ammable gas widespread diffusion, which
it spreads out. increases the probability of re and explosion occurring.
Finally, ammable gas cloud rises to the ceiling within 30 s,
4.3. Medium leakage because the position of leakage of Scenario L3, as Fig. 8 shows,
locates a little higher than the other two scenarios. Furthermore,
Medium leakage for Scenario L1 was simulated within 150 s, as the difference between Scenario L3 and Scenario L1 is that gas
shown in Fig. 6. Jet is caused immediately by released gases with cloud will not concentrate near the source of leak without the
high velocity when medium release occurs. As long as the velocity impact of vortex ows near the air-inlets.
inside the jet is high compared to that in the ambient air, the
extent and mixing in the jet is only affected by the properties of
the jet itself. As Fig. 6 illustrates, the jet tends to spread sideways 5. Locations of detectors
on the basis that velocity difference between the jet and the sur-
rounding air generates ne scale turbulence. Due to the fact that Permanently installed gas detectors tted in engine room space
jet velocity is inversely proportional to the distance to the point of of LNG gas fueled ships are used to automatically alarm and
release, jet velocity reduces and would be taken over by passive initiate safety measures in response to hazardous leaks. The
dispersion deected under the action of ambient wind to some number of detectors in engine room space must be considered
extent in the end. Unlike small leakage, the gas dispersion area taking size, layout, fuel density in air and ventilation of the space
grew up gradually and lled in the whole engine room space at the into account. Gas detection equipment shall be located where gas
end of the simulation. In the initial stage of leakage (o 30 s), gas may accumulate. Gas dispersal analysis shall be used to nd the
cloud was locally concentrated because of the existence of vortex best arrangement of gas detectors.
ows. Then, due to the impact of buoyancy and air ow, gas cloud From a practical point of view, there are essentially an innite
rises gradually, gathered near the ceiling and is pumped out number of leak scenarios that could result in small leakages,
X.J. Li et al. / Ocean Engineering 111 (2016) 524532 529
Fig. 9. The variation of concentration at selected points for Scenario L1. Fig.11. The variation of concentration at selected points for Scenario L3.
with the help of barrier nearby. Gas is punched out through the
outlets under the action of air ow. Therefore, the concentration of
natural gas at D1D3 grows quickly. Due to the fact that D4 is
located in the upwind direction, it may not be the proper position
for gas detection. However, for Scenario L2, as time goes on, the
concentration of D4 rises up immediately as Fig. 10 illustrate.
Scenario L2 is under the coverage of D1, D4 and D5. As for Scenario
L3, the two detectors near the air-outlets, i.e. detectors D1 and D2,
can detect the gas cloud efciently, as shown in Fig. 11. Making a
general survey of the three typical scenarios and considering
economic effectiveness, there is no need to install a gas detector at
D3. Due to the symmetry of the engine room space, two sets of gas
supply line are arranged in the port and starboard of LNG gas
fueled ship, as Fig. 1 shows. All the simulations above are based on
the condition of pipeline failure in the port. Thus, detectors D6 and
D7 are required in case of same gas dispersion scenarios happened
in the starboard. In all, six detectors at least D1, D2, D4, D5, D6 and
D7, are required to identify accidental releases within 30 s and
Fig. 10. the variation of concentration at selected points for Scenario L2. meet the requirements that two sets of detectors shall detect the
gas leakage.
which, however, would be hard to detect. Thus, selection of
appropriate leak scenarios is key to a successful CFD-based eva-
luation of gas detection systems. Locations of detectors in this 6. Conclusion
context are estimated based on medium leakage of 0.13228 kg/s
which is close to the typical leakage rate of 0.1 kg/s dened by CFD is an effective method to simulate accidental releases of
natural gas occurring within the engine room space of LNG gas-
NORSOK Standard (NORSOK, 2008).
fueled ships. The shear-stress transport (SST) model with the
As discussed in Section 4.1, gas cloud may accumulate on the
generation of turbulence kinetic energy due to buoyancy is used
top of the engine room space under the effect of buoyancy of gas
for natural gas dispersion considering the effect of its buoyancy.
and air ow, in the corners due to vortex ows, and on the bottom
This paper applies CFD techniques to illustrate gas dispersion of
when leaking straight down. Thus, in order to simulate and ana-
different release scenarios for an engine room space with typical
lyze natural gas concentration, seven points are selected near the
arrangement under the conditions of large volume, leakage rate,
air outlets (D1, D2), in the center of the ceiling (D3), in the corner
direction and position of release, complex obstacles, temperature
(D4, D6) and on the bottom (D5, D7). According to Rules for Nat- gradient, gas pressure and ventilation. Results demonstrate that,
ural Gas Fueled Ships (CCS, 2013), an audible and visible alarm for the cases of small leakage, the amount of natural gas in the
should be activated when the gas concentration reaches 0.01 (20% range of combustible concentration (0.050.15) gathers in limited
of the LEL). Moreover, it is assumed that gas cloud should be space and could hardly grow up with time. For medium leakages, a
detected within 60 s after gas leakage. In other words, gas dis- large amount of gas cloud may accumulate on the top and will be
persion time should be less than 30 s, after deducting the response emitted under the effect of buoyancy and air ow. Moreover, gas
time of alarm equipment (GB 15322-2003). In order to improve cloud concentrates where vortex ows exist. As the gas cloud
the detection accuracy, any leakage scenario should be under the expands gradually, the amount of ammable gas (0.05 o v/
coverage of at least two detectors within 30 s. vo0.15) is limited, as most of the gas released tends to remain in
Fig. 9 shows the variation of concentration of natural gas for the jet ow only if the jet is blocked by walls or equipment. Finally,
Scenario L1. As leakage occurs in the port side and disperses simulations of gas dispersion under different typical release sce-
transversely, D3 and D5 reaches 0.01 concentrations within 30 s narios indicate that detectors should be located near the air-
532 X.J. Li et al. / Ocean Engineering 111 (2016) 524532
outlets, the corner of the engine room space and under the gas Luketa-Hanlin, A., Koopman, R.P., Ermak, D.L., 2007. On the application of compu-
pipelines in the case of down-straight release, in accordance with tational uid dynamics codes for liqueed natural gas dispersion. J. Hazard.
Mater. 140, 504517.
the variation of gas concentration at several points in the engine Meroney, R.N., 2012. CFD modeling of dense gas cloud dispersion over irregular
room space. terrain. J. Wind. Eng. Ind. Aerodyn. 104106, 500508.
Newton, W., Lewis, M., Carswell, D., Lavery, N.P., Evans, B., Bould, D., Sienz, D., 2014.
Investigating the thermal prole of a marine vessel engine room through
simulation with eld measurements. Appl. Therm. Eng. 73, 13601370.
NORSOK Standard, 2008. S-001 Technical Safety, 4th edition.
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