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The mitigation of the consequences of storage-tank fire is a great safety concern in petro-chemical and gas industries. A technique to protect the integrity of neighbouring structures is the water spray curtain. It can be operating downward in front of or oriented to the surface to be shielded. Simple modelling, laboratory experiments and field tests for these two types of thermal shielding are presented. Attenuation factor of 50–75% can be expected with the vertical curtain while 90% can be reached with the impinging curtain if spray overlapping is achieved.

The mitigation of the consequences of accidental releases of dangerous toxic and/or flammable cloud is a serious concern in the petro-chemical and gas industries. Nowadays, the water-curtain is recognized as a useful technique to mitigate a heavy gas cloud. The paper presents a research methodology, which has been established and undertaken to quantify the forced dispersion factor provided by a water-curtain with respect to its configuration. The method involves medium-scale field tests, Wind-Gallery tests and numerical simulations. These different approaches are discussed and exemplified by typical results emphasizing the observed concentration reduction due to the water-curtain.