Assessing the safety performace of fireproofing materials for equipment protection

none5Fire scenarios in off-shore installations have a high potential to cause severe asset damage. Moreover, cascading events triggered by fire may further escalate the magnitude of the accident, in particular if equipment units containing significant inventories of flammable materials (e.g. separators) are involved. Fireproofing is a consolidated technique for passive fire protection of units and supporting structures. However current practice in rating fireproofing materials does not provide sufficient information about the protection granted to process equipment: for example, the ‘time-to-failure’ of pressurized vessels protected by fireproofing materials, which is fundamental in planning adequate egress and emergency procedures, can not be predicted from the results of standardized fire tests. The current contribution presents the results of a study aimed at a better understanding of the performance of fireproofing materials in the protection of critical equipment. The study integrated experimental and simulation techniques. Different fireproofing materials (inorganic fiber, lightweight concrete, intumescent resin) were considered as a reference. The experimental activity was aimed at the definition of fundamental models to describe the thermo-physical properties of the materials. Since some fireproofing materials (e.g. intumescent resins) undergo significant structural changes during fire exposure, appropriate models to predict material behaviour and to link material conversion with thermo-physical properties were developed. Specific simulation models were used to describe heat transfer through the material. Finite Element Model (FEM) simulation allowed for the description of the expected behaviour of process equipment exposed to different fire conditions. The results were validated by available large scale tests on storage vessels. The study led to a better understanding of the dynamics underlying the effective design for passive fire protection. While the current practice in application of fireproofing materials was proved adequate in delaying vessel failure for most practical cases, the safety margins actually present in the design were thoughtfully explored by the application of the current simulation procedure. The criticalities and limits of use of the alternative fireproofing options were identified. The results showed as the time transients required to reach a steady-state condition in the heat transfer are significantly long in many cases. The changes in the physical properties of materials during fire exposure may play a major role on the protection performance. Such effects could not be accounted for complex geometries by traditional simplified approaches alone. Thus, the proposed approach paves the way for a safer and more cost effective design of passive fire protection systems in off-shore facilities.mixedGiacomo Antonioni; Alessandro Tugnoli; Gigliola Spadoni; Valerio Cozzani; Gabriele LanducciGiacomo Antonioni; Alessandro Tugnoli; Gigliola Spadoni; Valerio Cozzani; Gabriele Landucc