On The Design of Thermal Breathing
On The Design of Thermal Breathing
On The Design of Thermal Breathing
T
he dynam ic behaviour of an atmospheric liquid storage tank upon sudden change of
meteorological conditions is analysed with the aim of establishing criteria for the safe
and effective design of thermal breathing devices. A simulation model is presented
based on a lumped-parameter multiple-zone representation of the tank. Simpli ed design
criteria based on reasonable and conservative approxim ations of the governing equations are
derived. Application of the simulation procedure and of design criteria is exempli ed. Results
are discussed and critically compared with prescriptions of existing codes.
Keywords: storage tank; thermal breathing; dynamic simulation.
354
THERMAL BREATHING DEVICES FOR LIQUID STORAGE TANKS 355
Phase 2 coef cients between the roof/shell and ambient air and
At time t = 0 weather conditions change. The combined the ambient temperature TA,1 are known.
effect of sudden drop of solar radiative ux incident on The energy balance on the gas within the tank, under
the tank roof, decrease of ambient temperature to TA,2 pseudo-steady state conditions, reads:
and strong downpour are assumed to determine stepwise
decrease of the enclosures temperature. The temperature
0 = AR hRG (TG,1 2 TR,1 ) + AS hSG(TG,1 2 TS,1 )
of gases and vapours in the tank starts decreasing, and so + AL hLG (TG,1 2 TL ) (4 )
does the pressure. As pressure reaches a threshold vacuum
level (that depends on inbreathing valves characteristic where AR, AS and AL are the areas of the surfaces enclosing
curve), inbreathing starts and ambient air is admitted into the gas, i.e. the roof/shell internal surface and the gas-liquid
the tank. interface. hLG is the heat transfer coef cient between the
gas and the bulk of the liquid.
Solution of equation (4) with respect to TG yields:
=S
Evaluation of Variables Before Change of Ai hiG Ti
Weather Conditions TG (5 )
S Ai hiG
The energy balance over a surface element of the tank
enclosure (assuming that temperature is uniform across the where summation is extended over all the surfaces enclosing
metal sheet) yields: the gas.
dT
re ce s = ks$ 2
T + qe + hA (TA 2 T ) + hG (TG 2 T)
Evaluation of Variables After Change of
dt
(1 ) Weather Conditions
In equation (1) T is the element temperature, $ 2 T is its At t = 0 it is assumed that sudden change of weather
Laplacian, re ce and k the heat capacity per unit volum e conditions associated with: (a) vanishing of radiative
and the thermal conductivity of the metal sheet, respec- ux absorbed by the roof/shell; (b) decrease of ambient
tively, s its thickness, q is the incident radiative ux, e is the temperature and, possibly, (c) downpour, occurs. Under
surface emissivity, hA and hG the heat transfer coef cients such conditions it is likely that roof/shell temperatures
of the element with the ambient and the gases in the tank, might approach, over a relatively limited time-scale, the
respectively. The latter embody contributions from both wet bulb temperature corresponding to the new ambient
radiation and convection (either free or forced). values of temperature and humidity. Due to the dif culty
Order of magnitude calculations based on typical of assessing the actual heat transfer rate between the gas
parameters of storage tanks suggest that the rst term at enclosures and the environm ent, it is (conservatively)
RHS of equation (1) is much smaller than the others, i.e., assumed that stepwise drop of roof/shell temperatures to
conduction along the metal enclosures can usually be the values TR,2, TS,2 occurs upon change of weather
neglected. This implies that spatial variation of T is related conditions. Correspondin gly and in the absence of inbreath-
only to change of parameters qe , hA and hG. Provided that ing the temperature of the gas/vapours in the tank decreases
these parameters can be assumed locally uniform , the towards an ultimate value TG ,2 that can be calculated from
enclosure can be lumped into multiple zones at piecewise equations (2), (3) and (5) referring to the new conditions.
uniform temperature. This approach was followed in the In the absence of inbreathing and neglecting conden-
present study, and the enclosures lumped into the roof sation of vapours at temperatures below the dew point, the
and the shell, each characterized by uniform values of maximum vacuum level in the tank would be:
( )
parameters TR, qR e , hRA, hRG and TS, qS e , hSA, hSG, respec- TG,2
tively. The liquid free-surface, at temperature TL, completes | p2 2 p1 | = p1 12 (6 )
TG,1
the enclosure of the gas in the tank.
Analysis of equation (1) further indicates that the term at The actual vacuum level established in the tank under
LHS is typically much smaller than the others as far as the combined effect of gas cooling and of inbreathing has
heating (or cooling) rates associated with daily excursion the value given by equation (6) as the upper limit. The actual
of ambient parameters are considered. This implies that, maximum vacuum level in the tank can be calculated by
as far as the dynamic behaviour of the tank over the time- following the dynam ic behaviour of the system.
scale of a day is concerned, the pseudo-steady state
approximation can be invoked.
In the light of the above approximations, the pseudo- Simulation of the Dynamics of the Tank upon
steady state roof and shell temperatures can be obtained Sudden Change of Boundary Conditions
by solution of the following energy balances: The energy balance on the gas in the tank, under transient
qR e = hRA (TR,1 2 TA,1 ) + hRG (TR,1 2 TG,1 ) (2 ) conditions, modi es into:
speci c heat at constant pressure, p the absolute pressure differentiation of the equation of state:
in the tank. Summation in equation (7) is again extended d p RTG nd Rn T
over all the i-th surfaces enclosing the gas. The material = + V d tG = pQ + p d TG
(16 )
balance on gas in the tank yields: dt V d V TG d t
dn where Q is the volum etric ow rate of the inbreathed air.
= nd (8 ) In order to prevent pressure from decreasing, the inbreath-
dt ing valves must provide at least the air ow rate required
where nd , the molar ow rate of gas entering the tank via the to ensure that dp/d t = 0, that is:
inbreathing valves, depends on the vacuum level inside
V d TG
the tank according to characteristic curves of the inbreathing Q$ 2 (17 )
valves: TG d t
nd = n(
d p 2 pA ) (9 ) At the beginning of the cool-down process the inbreathing
required is maximum. Particularization of equation (17) at
Pressure in the tank is related to the number of moles of t = 0 yields:
gas by the ideal gas equation of state:
nRT Q$
V 1
(TG,1 2 TG,2 ) =
S Ai hiG R
(TG,1 2
p= (10 ) TG,1 t c p
TG,2 )
V
Simulation of the transient behaviour requires integration (18 )
of the two ordinary differential equations (7) and (8), with
initial conditions:
p1 V APPLICATION TO DESIGN/VERIFICATION:
for t = 0, TG = TG,1 and n = AN EXAMPLE
RTG,1
Application of the above procedure is exempli ed in the
following. A cone-roof tank characterized by the following
geometrical parameters is considered: diameter: 70 m;
DEVELOPMENT OF A SIMPLIFIED
height: 15 m; liquid storage capacity: 56,000 m 3; roof
DESIGN CRITERION 3
tangent: 0.167; total tank volume: 63,000 m . The tank is
A useful approximation of equation (7) can be developed equipped with four breather valves whose characteristic
when considering that the inbreathing valves have to curve is reported in Figure 2. It is assumed that at the time of
provide enough air for tank pressure not to change appre- the sudden change of weather conditions the tank is almost
ciably. If the pressure derivative related term is dropped completely empty.
in equation (7), and if the further simpli cation is made The evaluation of input parameters to the simulation
of neglecting the term associated with the enthalpy of procedure is detailed in the Appendix. It is: qR =
incoming air, equation (7) becomes: 800 Wm2 2 ; e = 0 .35; TA,1 = 309 K; TL = 298 K. Further-
more it is assumed that the radiative heat ux incident
d TG
nc = S Ai hiG (TG 2 Ti,2 ) on the shell is negligible and that shell temperature can be
dt taken equal to the ambient temperature (TS,1 = TA,1 =
= TG S 309 K). hRA in equation (2) sums up contributions from
Ai hiG 2 S Ai hiG Ti,2 (11 )
convection, either free or forced, and radiation. The radia-
or: tive contribution accounts for about 5 W m 2 K 1. Free
d TG convection regime is assumed and the convective contri-
t = TG 2 TG,2 (12 ) bution is 5 W m K . Accordingly hRA = 10 W m 2 K2 .
2 1 2 1
dt
Equation (2) yields the equilibrium roof temperature
where TG,2 has already been de ned and t is a time constant TR,1 = 337 K (64C) before change of weather conditions.
Assuming: AR = 3900 m ; AS = 3200 m ; AL = 3800 m ;
2 2 2
given by:
nc pV c
t = = (13 )
S Ai hiG RTG S A i hG
The solution of equation (12) is straightforward and
yields:
t
TG,2 )[ 1 2
TG = TG,1 2 (TG,1 2
( t) ]
exp 2 (14 )
d TG 1
=2 (TG,1 2 TG,2 ) (15 )
dt t
The rate of change of pressure in the tank is, from Figure 2. Characteristic curve of inbreathing valves.
Dynamic Simulation
Results of dynam ic simulations are presented in Figures 3
to 6. They report the pressure in the tank (Figure 3), the
volum etric ow rate of inbreathed air (Figure 4), the tem-
perature of gas in the tank (Figure 5) and the total heat ux
from the roof/shell to the ambient (Figure 6) as functions
Figure 4. Results of numerical simulation: inbreathed ow rate vs time.
of time. The equilibration of temperature in the tank with
the new ambient temperature takes place over a time
interval of about one hour. Table 1 (column 1) reports the unchanged. Results are compared with those of the base
main parameters of the calculations, namely the maxi- case in Table 1 (column 3). It can be noted that maximum
mum inbreathing rate, the maximum vacuum level and the underpressure rises to 48 mm w.g., while maximum load
maximum heat ux from the tank to the atmosphere after on inbreathing valves is in the order of 13,000 m 3 hr 1.
change of weather conditions. A maximum vacuum level The analysis crucially relies on the knowledge of gas-
of about 40 mm w.g. is reached shortly after the beginning roof/shell and of gas-liquid heat transfer coef cients, whose
of cool-down. Correspondin gly, maximum ow rate of determination is at present the most critical aspect of the
inbreathed air is 9600 m 3 hr2 1 . Maximum heat ux from whole procedure. Values adopted in the calculations were
the tank to the atmosphere is in the order of 110 W m 2. This determined on the basis of literature correlations for free-
gure, which corresponds to about 35 BTU/hr sqft, is far convective heat transfer from at surfaces6 . The validity
larger than the value (20 BTU/hr sqft) that provides the of these equations, however, was extrapolated well beyond
basis for the ANSI/API 2000 standard 1. the ranges of Nu and Gr numbers that provide their
Computations were repeated considering the case in experimental background, for lack of better suited correla-
which the tank is half lled. Correspondingly, AS = 1600 m
2
tions. In order to check the sensitivity of the simulation
and the total volum e occupied by gas/vapours would be procedure to the values of the heat transfer coef cient hRG,
V = 35 , 000 m 3 . Results, summarized in Table 1 (column 2), additional computations were carried out by taking twice
indicate that maximum vacuum level and inbreathing the value used in the base case calculation. Results of this
rate would be about 37 mm w.g. and 8400 m 3 hr 1 , respec- sensitivity analysis are reported in Table 1 (column 4). It
tively. This situation turns out to be, therefore, less critical is observed that maximum vacuum level increases to about
than that occurring in the case of an empty tank. 48 mm w.g.. Correspondingly inbreathing demand is
Results reported so far are relative to a computed initial 3
raised to more than 13,000 m hr .
1
1 2 3 4
base case half- lled tank TG,1 = 50C hRG = 10 W m 2 2
K2
1
Table 2. Maximum thermal inbreathing ow rate for the case study (empty Heat transfer coef cient, free convection, horizontal
tank) calculated according to different design criteria. plate, cold-facing up or hot-facing down: 60% of the
Thermal inbreathing ow rate, value calculated with the previous equation.
Design criterion m hr 2
3 1
Radiative heat transfer coef cient from the roof to the
1
atmosphere: h = 4 seT 3R .
ANSI/API Code 4100
Naumann Formula 12,800
PTB-TRbF Formula
5
11,300 NOMENCLATURE
pr EN 265001 6300 10,500
Present work dynamic simulation 9600 A area
Present work equation (18) 10,000 c molar speci c heat at constant pressure
Present work equation (20) 9900 ce speci c heat of wall material
D tank diameter
h heat transfer coef cient
H tank height
k thermal conductivity of wall material
K proportionality constant
CONCLUSIONS n number of moles of gas in the tank
Detailed simulation of the dynamics of an atmospheric nd molar rate of air inbreathing
liquid storage tank upon sudden change of weather condi- p pressure
q radiative ux
tions has been carried out by means of a simple lumped- Q volumetric ow rate of inbreathed air
parameter model. Simpli ed criteria for the design of r tank aspect ratio (= H/D)
inbreathing valves have been developed, based on reason- R gas constant
able and conservative approximations. s tank wall thickness
t time
The dynamics of a cone-roof liquid storage tank subject
T temperature
to a sudden change of weather conditions has been simu- V gas volume in the tank
lated. Maximum inbreathing capacities and vacuum levels y molar fraction of condensables in the gas
calculated by direct numerical solution of the governing e emissivity
equations compare well with indications coming from the re density of wall material
t characteristic time for gas temperature decay
simpli ed design criteria. The simpli ed criterion provides
a reasonably good, slightly conservative tool for the design Subscripts
of inbreathing devices, easier to use than the direct A ambient
numerical simulation. Results of the analysis are extremely G gas
L liquid
sensitive to the values of the heat transfer coef cients
LG between liquid and gas
assumed in the computations. Their evaluation is at present R roof
the most critical point of the evaluation procedure. RA between roof and ambient
Analysis of results relative to the case study indicates RG between roof and gas
that rates of heat transfer from the tank to the environment S shell
SA between shell and ambient
well in excess of 20 BTU/sqft hr (i.e., the value assumed SG between shell and gas
by the ANSI/API Standard 1) might establish after sudden 1,2 before, after change of weather conditions
change in weather conditions. Inbreathing requirements
calculated as per the Naumann and PTB Formulas are
slightly larger than those predicted with the design criterion REFERENCES
5
developed in this paper. The draft EN prescription might 1. Venting Atmospheric and Low-Pressure Storage Tanks, API Standard
not lie on the safe side. Application of the ANSI/API 2000, 4th edition, 1992 (American Petroleum Institute, Washington
D.C.).
code appears to be not conservative enough, and consistent 2. Sigel, R., Kuxdorf, B, Meiss, R. and Schwarz, H., 1983, Chem Ing Tech,
oversizing of the thermal breathing devices in respect to 55: 377.
its prescriptions should be considered as a safer design 3. Fullarton, D., 1986, Chem Ing Tech, 58: 38.
measure. 4. Fullarton, D., Evripidis, J. and Schlunder, E.U., 1987, Chem Eng
Process, 22: 137.
5. Final Draft of Annex K Venting Systems for pr EN 265001 Part 1,
APPENDIX 1998.
6. McAdams, W. H., 1954, Heat Transmission, 3rd edition (McGraw Hill,
Evaluation of Heat Fluxes and New York).
Heat Transfer Coef cients 7. Kern, D. Q., 1965, Process Heat Transfer (McGraw Hill, New York).
8. Guida al Controllo Energetico della Progettazione, 1985 (Consiglio
Total radiant heat ux over a horizontal surface: Data Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome).
published by C.N.R. . The gure corresponds to 42 latitude
8
9. Kreith, F., 1973, Principles of Heat Transfer (Donnelley, New York).
N, summer, noon.
Emissivity of the roof surface: 0.35 is emissivity to solar
radiation, 0.9 the emissivity for heat ux leaving the surface ADDRESS
at TR = 50C 9. In either case the roof is assumed to be Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to
painted in white. Professor P. Salatino, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, Universita
degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, P. le Tecchio 80-80125 Napoli, Italy.
Heat transfer coef cient, free convection, horizontal
plate, hot-facing up or cold-facing down: Nu = 0 .14 The manuscript was received 12 March 1999 and accepted for
(Gr Pr)1 /3 6 publication after revision 21 September 1999.