Influence of Pressurized Pipeline Leakage and Oil Pool Fires on Parallel Natural Gas Pipelines

The length of parallel pipelines for transporting petroleum is continuously increasing. Leaks or explosions in these pipelines can cause devastating consequences. Therefore, this paper focuses on oil pool fires caused by pipeline leaks, specifically examining a segment of the China-Myanmar parallel pipelines. Numerical simulations of fire and explosion scenarios are conducted to investigate the impacts of oil leakage and fire accidents on the adjacent natural gas pipeline. The results indicate that oil vapor concentration and the size of leakage apertures are the two most critical factors influencing such accidents. Risk levels are ranked from highest to lowest as thermal radiation intensity, temperature difference, and explosion shock wave. Notably, thermal radiation poses the greatest hazard, with its risk level potentially reaching Level I. Finally, this paper recommends that the safety distance determined by thermal radiation be given special consideration during the design phase of parallel pipelines.