2026-04-17T01:07:20Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request

oai:recercat.cat:2117/4462382026-02-07T11:28:11Zcom_2072_1033col_2072_452950

00925njm 22002777a 4500 dc Schiaroli, Alice author Mata Miquel, Cristian author Scarponi, Giordano Emrys author Habib, Abdel Karim author Kluge, Martin author Ustolin, Federico author Cozzani, Valerio author 2025-09-01 The fire engulfment of storage tanks of hazardous materials is among the most critical scenarios in hazard assessment of industrial value chains. Laboratory and full-scale experimental trials are used to test the tank performance and integrity in such scenarios. However, strong uncertainties usually affect the actual fire load experienced by the tank, in particular when large-scale experiments are carried out in open test fields. Such uncertainties arise from several factors difficult to control during experimental tests, such as the atmospheric conditions as there is the influence of wind drifts influencing the actual fire engulfment, the flame temperature and the flame dynamic distribution around the target. Consequently, verifying the concordance of an experimental test with standard test criteria and defining accurate boundary conditions in correlated model simulations is challenging. In this study, the development of a novel method for the analysis of fire conditions based on image processing is presented. The approach allows identifying the flame coverage on the target surface during the test and provides an accurate map of the flame distribution on the equipment over time. The approach is tested using experimental data from a full-scale fire test campaign carried out on liquid hydrogen cryogenic tanks. The results prove to be accurate in replicating the experimental temperatures measured on the outer tank shell during the test. The proposed methodology can be used to better understand the results of experimental fire tests and to characterize realistic fire scenarios, also supporting the definition of fire test requirements. Moreover, the approach produces results that can be implemented as advanced space-time-varying boundary conditions in simulation models, improving their accuracy in reproducing real cases. Peer Reviewed Postprint (published version) Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria química::Biotecnologia Fire test Digital image processing Flame coverage Fire engulfment Boundary conditions Storage tank Digital image processing for the advanced characterization and simulation of experimental fire tests