Experimental Study on the Fire Resistance Performance of Protective Barriers in Petrochemical Plants

The performance of the fire resistance structure applied in domestic plants is evaluated by applying the standard fire curve assuming a general fire. However, such a fire is different from the fire expected to occur in the process of handling high-carbon materials, such as oil refinery plants and petrochemical plants. Therefore, the fire resistance performance of the members used in these plants should be evaluated by conducting fire resistance tests using a hydrocarbon fire curve, assuming a hydrocarbon fire. In this study, a hydrocarbon fire test was conducted on a protective barrier installed in a plant to reduce the risk of fire and explosion and confirm the fire resistance performance. Consequently, it is judged that, in plants where hydrocarbon fires are likely to occur, the protective barriers used will not satisfy fire-resistance regulations, depending on the thickness or type.