Well blowout Flame's thermal radiation prediction under environmental wind based on multi-point heat sources and inverse analysis

This study addresses the inadequacy of traditional multi-point source thermal radiation models in predicting the thermal radiation of gas well blowout fires under windy conditions. Initially, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach for predicting thermal radiation from well blowout jet flames was developed and validated against existing literature. Subsequently, the impact of wind on the thermal radiation of well blowout flames was thoroughly analyzed based on CFD model. Next, a novel predictive model for the center trajectory of well blowout flames under wind conditions was introduced based on CFD numerical simulation results and nonreactive jet trajectory theory. Building upon this, a novel prediction method of well blowout flame's thermal radiation under wind condition was proposed based on weighted multi-point sources model. Finally, the weights within proposed model were refined using an inverse optimization technique, specifically the Conjugate Gradient Global Optimization Algorithm, while also establishing a correlation between the optimal weight and the operating condition parameters of well blowout fires. Results indicated that the average difference between the thermal radiation values computed by the proposed method and those derived from numerical simulations was less than 10%. And the proposed model demonstrates clear superiority, particularly in terms of accuracy and convenience compared with traditional multi-point source model and single point source model. This research offers a practical and effective method for predicting thermal radiation from well blowout flames under wind conditions, which was of great significance for well blowout fire's disposal and rescue.