International Journal of Engineering, Science and Mathematics

Boilovers are extremely risky events that have the potential to result in catastrophic human and material losses. The size of a boilover is dictated by the flash point, boiling point, latent heat of vaporization and water cut of a specific crude oil. Tank fires that burn for an extended amount of time are typically associated with boilovers. When a tank catches fire, a heat zone is formed which rapidly converts the water in the tank bottom to steam. This results in an abrupt volumetric expansion of approximately 1700 times more than the original liquid inventory volume, finally erupting as a fireball. Majority of boilover incidents in the oil and gas industry began with a tank fire, which quickly escalated to fireballs and explosions, compounding the initial disaster numerous times. The present studysummarizes the significant researchwork thathave beencarried out in last 3 decades to characterize the boilover phenomenon up to this point. Experiments and theoretical studies carried out by the previous researchers are presented in the currentpaper to understand the boilover characteristics that can be applied to design newer experiments as well as to examine the outcomes with previous experimentsand alsodeliberates an overview of validation models.