A comparative study of radiation models on propane jet fires based on experimental and computational studies

Abstract

Radiation as a consequence of jet fires is one of the significant parameters in process industry events. In the present work, the open field vertical propane jet fire was studied via experimental and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The predicted values of radiation were verified at three locations in the horizontal direction from the jet fire. In the simulation section, four radiation models of Monte Carlo (MC), P-1, Discrete Transfer (DT), and Rosseland were applied to find the fine model for simulating the jet fire. Shear Stress Transport (SST) and Eddy Dissipation Concept (EDC) models are employed for combustion and turbulence, respectively. The estimated data by the simulation demonstrated that the MC radiation is better than the other models with an average error of 5% for predicted incident radiation from the jet flame axis. Also, the P-1 radiation model had an above 65% error at around the jet fire, but due to the error of less than 15% estimated by MC and DT models, these radiation models could simulate the jet flame radiation. The simulation outcomes proved that the Rosseland radiation model is not applicable owing to a lack of accurate temperature prediction.

Keywords

• Jet fire
• Combustion
• Propane
• Computational fluid dynamics
• Radiation model
• Simulation