E

SUB-COMMITTEE ON CARRIAGE OF CCC 1/INF.25

CARGOES AND CONTAINERS 4 July 2014
1st session ENGLISH ONLY
Agenda item 4

DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL CODE OF SAFETY FOR SHIPS USING

GASES OR OTHER LOW-FLASHPOINT FUELS (IGF CODE)

Leak analysis and gas explosion simulation in the LNG-fuelled ships

Submitted by the Republic of Korea

SUMMARY

Executive summary: This document provides information on the result of a research

done on the leak analysis and gas explosion analysis of the
LNG-fuelled ship.

Strategic direction: 5.2

High-level action: 5.2.1

Planned output: 5.2.1.2

Action to be taken: Paragraph 7

Related document: CCC 1/4

Introduction

1 LNG has significant advantages in regard to environmental aspects comparing with

conventional fuel oil. In fact, it is estimated that NOx and SOx emission can be reduced by
about 90% and 100%, respectively in case of using LNG. In addition, LNG-fuelled ships emit
around 20% less greenhouse gases (GHG). Therefore, LNG enables us to comply with
stricter emission requirements for ships under the MARPOL Convention, combined with
regionally enforced Emission Control Areas (ECA) and GHG emission reduction initiated by
IMO. LNG-fuelled ships have been considered to be the best option both from an
environmental and an economic point of view.

2 Along with these trends, some major shipyards and Classification Societies have
started to carry out the design of LNG-fuelled ships such as VLCCs and large container
vessels, etc.

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3 Explosion analysis using computational fuel dynamics (CFD) code is widely used for
risk-based design decisions, especially in the gas fuelled ships where the available space is
limited. Since the fuel gas supply system is highly confined, it can be congested highly
enough to generate enough turbulence, resulting in significant explosion overpressure.

4 For this reason, the explosion analysis needs to be performed to prepare the data
required to assess the structural resistance in the developing draft IGF Code. In order to
obtain explosion analysis data, the leak analysis should be carried out first.

5 Accordingly, the Republic of Korea has initiated a research project to verify the
safety levels of this arrangement.

Conclusion

6 According to the explosion simulations conducted based on the forecast on the size
of the gas cloud made available through the leak analysis, the results show the flame
contours, pressure and drag force because of the explosion in the fuel gas supply room. The
results of this study can further be used to do a structure analysis or assess the impact on
the hull structure. Further research and development regarding the fuel gas supply system is
necessary.

Action requested of the Sub-Committee

7 The Sub-Committee is invited to note the information set out in the annex to this
document.

***

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ANNEX

LEAK ANALYSIS AND GAS EXPLOSION SIMULATION IN LNG-FUELLED SHIPS

1 With the steep rise in oil prices recently, the shipping industry is increasingly looking
for alternative fuel sources to operate its ships. LNG happens to be the most practical fuel in
that sense. Considering that bunkers comprise around 65% of total ship operating costs, the
shipping industry has no choice but to consider alternative fuel sources.

2 As part of provision for the present international trends in the shipping industry on
fighting global warming through reducing GHG emissions in the atmosphere, new design
concepts using LNG as an alternative fuel source, such as containers or crude oil carriers,
have been studied by Korean shipyards.

3 In order to identify all the possible hazards in the systems and then enhance
the system safety, high-level Hazard Identification (HAZID) studies were carried out by
multi-disciplinary HAZID teams. As a result of HAZID, gas leaks/explosion in a machinery
room or gas tank room were identified as the main hazards in the design which deserved
further analysis. As the analysis was conducted, it turned out that many novel issues
associated with the design were in the gas supply system or gas tank room, and had to do
with gas leakage in various conditions. Table 1 shows that the HAZID analysis resulted in
findings of 50 potential hazards.

Table 1: Specific number of the identified hazards classified by the risk ranking1

Risk ranking Number of findings

H 5
M 15
L 27
Not ranked 3

4 The above table specifically focused on the analysis of gas dispersion conditions
and near-field blast waves in order to understand the risk posed by the different gas leakages
and the venting system, and identify the most significant contributors to risk, to propose risk
reducing recommendations that will develop the draft IGF Code at IMO. As the above table
suggests, the risk level is highest for the fuel gas supply system thus implying significant
value in conducting a specific study on this. Among the system components, when a leak
occurs in a pipe with an inner pressure of 300 bar or over, the risk is expected to be the
highest.

5 In this study, the leak analysis was carried out to verify the safety levels of this
arrangement in case when leakage occurs in a pipe with the inner pressure of 300 bar.
Figure 1 shows the general arrangement of a LNG-fuelled container vessel which has been
used as the subject of simulation. The red box shows the location of the fuel gas supply
(FGS) room. In addition, all data used in this study are estimated figures because this
research is carried out based on a concept vessel.

1 HAZID study was carried out by a multi-disciplinary HAZID team on 11-12 November 2010, at
Okpo shipyard, Korea

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Figure 1: General arrangement of LNG-fuelled container

6 Principal dimension of the vessel are mentioned in table.2.

Table 2: Principal Dimension

Length O.A 327.8 m
Length B.P 311.8 m
Breath 49.2 m
Depth 27.2 m
Draft (Design) 13.5 m

7 Figure 2 shows the model of the LNG-fuelled gas supply system for leak simulation.
The simulation was carried out for the lines with 300 bar and over pressure. The default
settings were a 301.2 bar inlet, a 301.2 bar outlet and the mass flow of 9384 kg/h. The pipe
length was set at 2 m and the leakage point was assumed to occur at the center of the pipe.
The simulation was conducted using the Flownex program.

Figure 2: The model of LNG-fuelled gas supply system

8 Two possible scenarios were set up to run the simulation: When the leak occurs
after 0.1 sec and the cutoff valve activates immediately after 1 sec. (scenario 1); and when
the leak occurs after 0.1 sec and the cut off valve activates after 8 sec. (scenario 2). The leak
size was set at 10 mm.

9 Table. 3 shows the results of the leak analysis.

Table 3: The results of the leak analysis

Parameters Unit Scenario 1 Scenario 2
Equilibrium time sec 2.177 9.652
Maximum velocity m/s 440.1 442.8
Maximum mass flow rate kg/h 17198.6 17231.2
Leak loss kg 5.353 41.0

10 Figure 3 – 6 show the mass flow rate, velocity, pressure and total mass loss through
the leak over time.(scenario 1)

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Figure 3: The mass flow rate over time for scenario 1

Figure 4: The velocity over time for scenario 1

Figure 5: The pressure over time for scenario 1

Figure 6: The total mass loss through the leak over time for scenario 1

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Figure 7–10 show the mass flow rate, velocity, pressure and total mass loss through the leak
over time. (scenario 2)

Figure 7: The mass flow rate over time for scenario 2

Figure 8: The velocity over time for scenario 2

Figure 9: The pressure over time for scenario 2

Figure 10: The total mass loss through the leak over time for scenario 2

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11 According to the leak analysis results, the total gas leak loss is 5.353 kg for
scenario 1 and 41 kg for scenario 2.

12 For a computer simulation, an explosion of the FGS system due to the leakage of
gas is fixed. The modeling of explosion in the FGS room was carried out with the commercial
CFD code, FLACS2. For calculations, the Navier-Stokes equations for gas leakage flow were
used along with the k- turbulence model.

13 The modeling conditions are summarized in table 4. The gas clouds were 5.353kg
for scenario 1 and 41kg for scenario 2 according to the results of the leak analysis. The
ignition time was set at 0.1 sec.

Table 4: Summary of modeling conditions

Parameters Unit Scenario 1 Scenario 2

Leak loss kg 5.353 41.0
Gas cloud kg 5.353 41.0
Ignition time sec 0.1 0.1

14 Figures 11 – 16 illustrate the flame contours, pressure graphs and drag graphs as
the result of scenario 1 and scenario 2. In case of flame contours, the results are shown by
time step so that the explosion process can clearly be demonstrated. Contours are drawn by
dividing the plane into xy, yz, and xz at the ignition point. Pressure graphs and drag graphs
are made using the figures at the ignition point.

Figure 11: The flame contours over time for the scenario 1

(a) Time Delay: 0.463 Sec

2 Flame Acceleration simulator (FLACS), Ver.10.0, GexCon, Bergen, Norway

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(b) Time Delay: 0.602 Sec

(c) Time Delay: 0.833 Sec

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(d) Time Delay: 1.089 Sec

(e) Time Delay: 2.140 Sec

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Figure12: The pressure and fuel plots over time for scenario 1

Figure 13: Scenario 1: (a) Drag force, (b) Pressure

Figure. 14 The flame contours over time for the scenario 2

(a) Time Delay: 0.608 Sec

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(b) Time Delay: 1.050 Sec

(c) Time Delay: 1.448 Sec

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(d) Time Delay: 1.975 Sec

(e) Time Delay: 2.650 Sec

Figure 15: The pressure and fuel plots over time for scenario 2

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Figure 16: Scenario 2: (a) Drag force, (b) Pressure

15 As shown on the results above, the total leak amount in scenario 1 is only 5.353 kg
so the maximum pressure generated is very low which is 0.27 bar. However, in case of
scenario 2, the total leak amount is 41 kg which is 8 times higher than scenario 1.
Accordingly, the maximum pressure stands at about 3.7 bar. The flame contours over time
graph shows that the flame remains even after 2 sec and the flame covered all the ceiling.

16 The gas leak amounts were calculated for both scenario 1 and 2 through the leak
analysis, this together with the explosion analysis, gas clouds were created and the
explosion analyses were carried out. In conclusion, with the results from the leak analysis
and explosion analysis, the impact on hull structure needs to be calculated. In order to
develop the LNG-fuelled ship, it is necessary to bring together international knowledge and
wisdom on safety to develop rules and technologies for ships.

___________

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