Analysis of the effectiveness of passive fire protection measures

Passive fire protection is of fundamental importance for the prevention of catastrophic accidents in the process industry, in particular in the case of escalation effects. In the present work, a methodological approach was developed, aimed at the characterization of the performances of passive protection systems, integrating experimental and numerical analysis. Thermal coatings were first characterized under jet fire conditions on laboratory scale, extending the results to a pilot scale. A finite elements model was implemented in order analyze experimental results and the complicating factors. The model was extended to large scale tanks, determining the optimal coating thickness and effectiveness for several fireproofing materials.