00:00And how does an oil tanker explode?
00:03Most oil tanker explosions are not detonations.
00:06That specific category of explosion associated with TNT, trinitrotoluene, where the shockwave
00:12travels supersonically and matter is destroyed almost instantly.
00:16Oil tank explosions are usually fast burns where the flame spreads at a lower speed.
00:22They are slower in principle but no less destructive when the volume involved is large enough.
00:28The problem gets worse when the fuel is stored in metal tanks.
00:33In the case of pressure vessels containing superheated liquids or liquefied gases, a phenomenon
00:39called BLEEVE can occur which stands for Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion.
00:44Here, a fuel tank is exposed to an external fire.
00:48The liquid inside gradually heats up, the walls hold and the liquid fuel remains in a liquid
00:53state even at temperatures well above its normal boiling point.
00:58This is called superheating but if at some point the tank wall gives way, either due to
01:03thermal corrosion or impact, then the pressure drops instantly because a breach is created
01:09through which the accumulated pressure is released.
01:12At that moment when the internal pressure suddenly drops, the superheated liquid begins to boil
01:17explosively in a short period of time.
01:21As it boils, the oil evaporates.
01:23Vapor volume can suddenly increase by hundreds of times.
01:26The tank basically becomes a superheated vapor bomb and at some point all the walls of the
01:32tank give way.
01:33The result?
01:35A fireball tens of meters in diameter, depending on the tank, metal fragments hurled at hundreds
01:40of meters per second and a pressure wave that hits everything around.
01:44A similar but not identical example is the explosion at Burnsfield in the United Kingdom
01:49in 2005.
01:51There it was an explosion caused by a large fuel vapor cloud and the shock wave was so
01:56powerful that it was detected by seismic networks.
02:00However, in the case of crude oil from a tanker, the most likely scenario is a combination of
02:06tank fire, flammable vapor, local explosions and burning oil spills.
02:12Superhero prisiness.
02:13Superhero prisiness.
02:13Superhero drought.
02:16Superheroiniz.
02:16Superhero trzy rat again.
02:17Superhero see you.
02:17If we need one thing every time.
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