Railway tank car derailments have resulted in significant fires, especially when flammable lading is involved. Pressure buildup in the tank vessel under fire conditions combined with loss of strength in the steel due to elevated temperatures can lead to catastrophic failure of tank shells under certain circumstances. Pressure Relief Devices (PRDs) are installed on tank cars help to limit the pressure buildup in tank cars, thereby reducing the potential for a tank explosion. While the intent of using PRDs is their performance under fire conditions, they had not been evaluated or characterized under such conditions.A prior paper on the subject described the research and test effort that was conducted to evaluate PRD performance under fire conditions using water as lading. This paper describes the results of a series of tests conducted on 1/3rd scale tanks, with full-scale PRDs, under fully engulfing fire conditions, using flammable ethanol as the lading. Three tests, considering liquid, gaseous, and mixed flow through PRDs, were conducted using PRDs with two different flow rates, nominally used in flammable fuel service. It was seen that the PRDs survived the fire and functioned appropriately when subjected to moderately high temperatures for 30 to 45 minutes. Details of the test program, test results, and conclusions are described in this paper.

Characterizing the Performance of Tank Car Pressure Relief Devices Under Derailment Fire Conditions – Flammable Fuel Tests

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/JRC/JRC2021/volume/84775

2021 Joint Rail Conference (JRC2021)

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