Small-scale field spill experiments of liquid nitrogen, oxygen and their mixture on concrete surface

This paper presents the findings of small-scale experiments (5-15 kg) of cryogenic liquid spills on a representative industrial grade diking concrete. Physical properties of the substrate, i.e., the thermal conductivity (k) and heat capacity (Cp) of the concrete were measured in the range of −160 °C to 50 °C using guarded hot plate and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), respectively. Vaporization rate of liquid nitrogen (LN2), liquid oxygen (LO2) and a mixture of 80% v/v LN2 and 20% v/v LO2, (i.e., liquid air - LAir) were studied on the same concrete. Convective and radiative heat transfers were limited by insulation. The contribution of conductive heat transfer from the concrete substrate for the vaporization of cryogenic liquids was studied. The effect of preferential boiling was observed when the liquid air was spilled.