Effectiveness of water curtains to protect firemen in case of an accidental release of ammonia: comparison of the effectiveness for two different release rates of ammonia

This paper presents the results of some dispersion experiments of liquefied ammonia in the presence of peacock tail water curtains. The aim of this pa per is to evaluate the effectiveness of water barriers to counteract a weak release of ammonia under pressure (0.25 kg/s). The dissolution of ammonia in the water curtain is rather poor (about 15%), but at 10 m behind the cur tain the effectiveness can reach levels as high as 90%. The results of the effectiveness obtained with ammonia releases of 0.25 kg/s are compared with results from those obtained from a release of ammonia half the size. (C) 2 001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.