Flammable vapor cloud generation from overfilling tanks: Learning the lessons from Buncefield

This paper presents the findings of the Buncefield Incident investigation team and further research that has been carried out on tank overfilling releases over the last seven years at the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL). The work has involved a combination of unique spill experiments and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling, and has resulted in a simple methodology for predicting the rate of flammable vapor production from overfilling tanks. This paper takes the opportunity to present for the first time a unified narrative, starting with the key findings of the incident investigation and culminating with the description of a workbook method for predicting which substances and storage tanks could create significant vapor clouds.