Liquid and gas discharge rates through

holes in process vessels

John L. Woodward and Krishna S. Mudan
Technica Inc., 355 East Campus View Boulevard,
USA

Suite I70, Columbus,

Ohio, 43235,

Risk analysis often addresses the problem of calculating the time-varying discharge rate from an
accidental puncture of a storage tank or process vessel. For selected cases, reasonably simple
analytical solutions are presented for discharge rates. In addition to helping to validate more
complex numerical solutions, these analytical solutions help in estimating a single representative
discharge rate to drain completely a partially-filled
vessel. To select a representative discharge
rate, it is useful to first find the average discharge rate. Then, a useful rate for risk analysis can be
chosen, typically around midway between the average and the initial discharge rate. Formulas
are given for average rates as a function of the initial liquid level and vessel head pressure for
spheres, horizontal cylinders and right cylinders. For gas and vapour discharge, the average
discharge rate is given in terms of the initial pressure.
(Keywords:

discfarge

rates; gas; liquid)

For risk analysis, a scenario which is frequently

postulated is an accident which would drain the entire
contents of a partially liquid filled or gas filled storage
tank or process vessel. This event is inherently time
varying since the discharge rate decays as the vessel
pressure and/or liquid head above the puncture decreases. For screening level studies, one representative
discharge rate is desired. This representative
rate
should be chosen to make an idealized steady state
analysis roughly match the actual transient
event
A complex set of events must be
consequences.
modelled, including possible aerosol formation and
rainout, pool spread and vaporization, vapour dispersion and toxic dosage or fire radiation dosage. After
performing
such transient
analyses for a limited
number of materials, our experience has been that a
reasonable steady state discharge rate to use is roughly
midway between the initial and the average discharge
rates. Thus, it is useful to have simple analytic formulas
for the average discharge rate, then apply the above
rule of thumb to select a representative discharge rate.

Discharge rates for liquids

rir
PL

Integrating

AP,

-ADCD 2gh(t) + 2 -

differential

095@4230/91/030161-06
@)I991
Butteworth-Heinemann

Ltd

VL = aR+h

(2)

dVL = nR:dh

(3)

Spheres
VL = _$rh*(3R, - h)

(4)

dVL = nh(DT - h) dh

(5)

Horizontal

cylinders
(h - RT)(DTh - h*)@ + Rising

x(y)+;R;]
dVL = 2L(DTh - h*)* dh
Equate Equation
give:

(1) with Equations

(3), (5) a

i)to

PL

-rR+dh

dt =

1 (1)

AD&, 2gh +2-

volumes to obtain a relationship

Received4 September 1990

Right cylinders

Right cylinders

For liquids, the time-varying volumetric discharge rate,

neglecting entrance effects? is given by the Bernoulli
formula:
dVL
~=-_=

between liquid volume and liquid head and then

differentiating the resulting equations gives a geometric
relationship for dVL/dh and h as follows:

APr
PL

Spheres
dt =

-ah(

(8)

(9)

ln

DT - h) dh

A P,
A,CD 2gh + 2 PL

U2

J. Loss Prev. Process Ind., 799 1, Vol4, April

161

Liquid
For t <

and gas

and K. S. Mudan

IF/C

l/2

ADCD

fi

liquids is
the drain
are availE, which
rate or:

dVL
_
z(h)=?

dpv

Pv

P,PvY

(28)

where:

(z-$yl _ (I-L)k-l)k]

y =

J. L. Woodward

The average
volumetric
discharge
rate for
simply Vu/t,,
the initial volume divided by
time. More usefully, since analytic solutions
able for tr, we can find the liquid level,
produces a discharge rate equal to the average

t > tc, subsonic flow

t-tt,=-VT

rates:

Average discharge rate for liquids

tcr sonic flow

(27)
For

discharge

(39)

Substituting into Equation (39), Equation (1) evaluated

at the average liquid head, E, the volume Equations
(2), (4) and (6) evaluated at ho. and the results for tf,
Equations
(14), (15) and (16) with H = 0, gives the
desired expressions for the average head as follows:
Right cylinders

Equation
(27) is simplified by transforming
PT. and py
to tank temperature
TT using Equation (20) giving:
For r <

t=

t,
YM,
?fz,(k

1)

-312 du

TT
__ = [F(t)]2
TTO

where Denom
2(Q

I)(I

(40)

=
+ R)@

E
_=_

ho

t)]W--L)

(32)

2(2 X

= fi,[F(r)](k+)l(k-)

(33)

F(r)

= [l + At]-

(34)

A =

%(k

- 4,QU + W3/2

+ ;QR~~

+ ;;R
Horizontal

PVO
h(r)

-R

(41)

(30)

PT _ [F(t)]ww
PTU
[F(

ho

(29)

where ti,, is the initial discharge rate given by Equation

(23) at PLO, pvIo. Equation (29) is integrated to give:

!? =

[Cl + R) 1;_ R1/2]2

Spheres

rr/ro

E
-=

cylinders

- ;;(R - ;)(l

+ R)32

(R = 0)

3
16
Q)(Q

l)/

+ Q2

QW _

(Q

1)3i2

where:

(42)

1)

2M,
The total amount

discharged

is:

M(t) = j-i c%(A)djl

(35)

M(t) = Mo[l - F(t)2k-]

(36)

or

The mass remaining

MT(t)

in the tank is:

= MO - M(t)

(37)

The time at which sonic flow begins, tc. is found by

equating PT in Equation (31) with P, in Equation (22)
and substituting F(t) from Equation (34) to give:

t, =

a[ (k+l):2(&)-;k
- 1

(38)

Equation (40) is plotted in Figure I. This shows that for

right cylinders, the average liquid head ranges between
1 and i of the initial height as the ratio R ranges from 0
b
0~. That is, for atmospheric
pressure storage where
R = 0, use i; = h,/4. For pressurized storage where the
top pressure is large relative to the pressure contributed
by the liquid head, the discharge
rate is essentially
constant as the liquid head varies and 6 = h,&?.
For spheres, Equation
(41) is plotted in Figure 2.
In this case, the average liquid head is near $ over the
entire range of R and Q values. For low initial levels,
say Q - = 0.25, the average head ratio is always above
1 ranging from 0.54 to 0.675. For high initial levels, say
$1
= 0.90,
t he average
head ratio ranges between
0.43 and 0.54.
For
horizontal
cylinders
at low top pressure,
Equation (42) is plotted in Figure 3. This shows that the
average head ratio in this case ranges between 0.35 and
0.45. Although
it is not possible to obtain an analytic
solution for the horizontal right cylinder with R # 0, it
is possible
to make use of a computer
model
to
calculate the drainage time for this case. Figure 4 shows
the results of such modelling,
using the LEAKER

J. Loss Prev. Process

Ind.,

1991,

Vol4,

April

163

Liquid

and gas discharge

rates:

J. L. Woodward

and K. S. Mudan
Avetage/lnitM

Liquid Ht

0.5

/
0.4

t--_---

0.3

0.2 1

..

.. .- ..

...

. .. ...

..

I --........-..

0.1

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

...,....

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

HWTankDlpnwtsr
Figure1 Liquid
cylinders

0.7

head

for

average

discharge

rates

for

right
Figure3 Liquid head for average discharge
cylinders

rates for horizontal

Average/lnitiai Liquid Ht

o.6 /vera9eMtiai

Liquid Ht

I,
-i
0.4 -

0.3 -..

,,,,,,_,,.,.,

0.3 t

0.2 _.......

0.2

0.1 -

0
Figure2 Liquid head for average discharge
H,/&:
1.0.90; +, 0.75; *,0.50; 0.0.25

rates for spheres.

Average discharge rate for gases

The average
mass discharge
rate for gases over the
period of sonic flow is the total mass discharged up to
time tC, divided by t,, or

numerator

of

Equation

164

J. Loss Prev. Process

(43)

Ind.,

is Equation

1991, Vol4,

1.5

2
RatfoR

2.5

3.5

Figure4 Liquid head for average discharge rates for horizontal

cylinders determined
by LEAKER model. H,/&:
n , 0.75; +,
0.50; *, 0.25

model*.
Figure 4 illustrates that the use of 0.5 as the
ratio of average to initial liquid height is well justified
for draining horizontal
cylinders subject to at least a
small amount of head pressure.

The

0.5

April

(36)

(38).
evaluated
at rer and t, is given by Equation
Substituting these equations into Equation
(43) gives
the average rate as a ratio of the initial discharge rate
as:

ii
-zz

Liquid
where

PR

is the

ratio

of ambient

to initial

and gas discharge

pressure,

pa/p,.
Equation
(44) is plotted in Figure 5, which shows
that the average discharge rate varies between approximately
$ of the initial
discharge
rate at high initial
pressures
to identically
equal to the initial discharge
rate
if the initial
discharge
rate is just becoming
subsonic
(at the critical
pressure
ratio).
For initial
pressure
ratios
near the critical
pressure
ratio,
the
approximation
that the average rate over the sonic flow
period represents
the average
over the entire period
becomes
poor, but for P&P,
> 10 the approximation
is reasonable.
For a specific case, M(r,)
should be evaluated
to
verify the validity of the approximation
of treating only
the sonic flow regime.

Recommendations
The analytic
ations
(14),

solutions
for mass discharge
rate, Equ(lS),
(16) and (33),
provide
a simple

Avoragm/lnitlal

Discharge

1 Handbook of Fluids in Motion, (Eds N. P. Cheremisinoff

Gupta) Ann Arbor Science, 1983, pp. 211-234
2 Woodward, J. L., 1. Loss Prevention 1990.3,33

AD
B
CD
CPR
DT
F
g
h

I
1
l/PI3

10
= Pjo/Pamb

100

Figure5 Effect of initial pressure ratio on average/initial

discharge rate (average over sonic flow period). k = : n , 1.2; +. 1.4;
+, 1.6

and R

Nomenclature

g
RT
t
tf
7-T.

VL
VT
Z
Y

and K. S. Mudan

References

z
MT.
P,
PT.
APT
PR

0.2

J. L. Woodward

method of calculating
time-dependent
discharge
rates
for several important
special cases.
Use Equations
(40), (41), (42) and (44) or Figures
1-5 to find the average
conditions
for complete
discharge
of vessel contents.
For screening
level studies, find a representative
discharge
rate
midway
between the average and the initial rate.

h
H
k
L

Rate

rates:

m.
Pv

Area of orifice at puncture (I$)

Defined by Equations (15). (16), (17)
Discharge coefficient (dimensionless)
Critical pressure ratio defined by Equation
Tank diameter (m)
Defined by Equation (34)
Acceleration due to gravity (m s-*)
Height of liquid (m)

(22)

Average height of liquid(m)

Defined by Equation (13)
Coefficient of non-ideal adiabatic expansion
Length of horizontal cylinder(m)
Discharge rate (kg s-l)
Integral mass discharged (kg)
Mass remaining in vessel (kg)
Ambient pressure (Pa)
Tank pressure above liquid (Pa)
PT - P,
Pressure ratio defined for Equation (44)
Reciprocal initial level DT/ho
Defined by Equation (11) or ideal gas constant
Tank radius (m)
Time(s)
Time to drain vessel (s)
Temperature of gas or liquid in vessel (K)
Specific volume of vapour (m3 kg-)
Volume of liquid in vessel (m3)
Vessel volume (m3)
Compressibility factor (dimensionless)
Ratio of heat capacities at constant pressure and
wnstant volume, C,/C, , for gas or vapour
Liquid density (kg m-3)
Vapour or gas density (kg mm3)

Subscripts
0
9

Initial value
Critical point at which discharge becomes
Vena contracta conditmns

J. Loss Prev.

Process

Ind.,

1991,

Vol4,

subsonic

April

165