Abstract: To study the damage of domino effect in pool fire in tank farm to the surrounding personnel and the adjacent tanks, three large scale pool fire tests were done by using 180# fuel oil. The measured temperatures were converted to the thermal radiation values, and a comparison was made between them and the theoretical calculation values. According to the measured mean thermal radiation and the personnel injury curve, the injury of thermal radiation to the surrounding personnel was analyzed. Finally, on the basis of both the experimental results and the theoretical analysis, the damage probabilities of adjacent tanks were obtained. The results show that both the speed and the direction of the wind affect combustion of fire, affecting the propagation of heat radiation accordingly i.e. the greater the wind speed is, the greater the received thermal radiation intensity at the downwind will be, that the more unstable the wind velocity is, the greater the thermal radiation fluctuation will be, that when the thermal radiation intensity is large enough, the personnel may suffer serious injuries in a short exposure period even at a long distance from fire, that pressure tanks are more prone to secondary accidents than atmospheric tanks, and that in order to prevent the occurrence of domino accidents, priority should be given to cooling down the pressure tanks at the downwind.

Key words: pool fire, petroliferous storage tank, thermal radiation, domino effect, experimental simulation