Heat Transfer Characteristics of Bulkhead Penetration Piece for A60 Class Compartment I: Transient Thermal

Abstract

In order to protect lives and prevent large-scale injuries in the event of a fire on a ship or an offshore plant, most classification societies are strengthening their fire resistance designs of relevant cargo holds and accommodation compartments to keep flames from being transferred from a fire point to other compartments. Particularly in critical compartments, where flames should not propagate for a certain period of time, such as the A60 class division, both the airtightness and fire-resistant design of a piece passing through a bulkhead are subject to the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) issued by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In order to verify the suitability of a fire-resistant design for such a penetrating piece, the fire test procedure prescribed by the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) must be carried out. However, a numerical simulation should first be conducted to minimize the time and cost of the fire resistance test. In this study, transient thermal analyses based on the finite element method were applied to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of a bulkhead penetration piece for the A60 class compartment. In order to determine a rational bulkhead penetration piece design, the transient heat transfer characteristics according to the variation of design parameters such as the diameter, length, and material were reviewed. The verification of the design specification based on a numerical analysis of the transient heat transfer performed in this study will be discussed in the following research paper for the actual fire protection test of the A60 class bulkhead penetration piece.

Keywords

• Ship and offshore plant fire accident
• A60 class compartment
• Bulkhead penetration piece
• Transient heat transfer analysis
• Penetration piece design