Incident Report

Subject:         Peer Assist - Integrity of Sheet Piling/Bund/Dike/Sealant

Date of Email report:  Fri 02/05/2014

Report Detail:

Hello Kevin,

Hope you are well.

Would it be possible to put the following question to JOIFF members?

Background info

In the Netherlands the guideline (PGS 29) for storage tanks is being updated by a group of people representing the industries involved, the authorities and consultants.

The group has asked me to consult JOIFF members on the topic of integrity of bund walls/dykes during a bund fire.

For very large bunds we use a relay response as suggested by Williams in order to make the amount of fire water required manageable.
One of the consequences of using a relay response for extremely large bund fires is that the fire will last between 2 – 5 hours before it is fully extinguished.

All this time  wall/dyke/sheet piling (as seen in the picture below), including sealant used to join the sections together, intended as the containment for the liquid in the bund has to keep its integrity. The (lack of)  fire resistance of the sealant was a serious issue during the Buncefield incident. 

Question:

We know standards which can be used to test the integrity of the bund wall/dyke/sheet piling during a fire, but these test are for a two hour fire rating only.

If JOIFF members have experience with proving that the bund wall/dyke/sheet piling (including the sealant) will keep its integrity for 3, 4 or even 5 hours , we kindly ask them to share this info with us.

We thank you in advance for your assistance.

Additional Documentation: