Monday Tech Talk – Bunding Walls Anatomy

This Monday Tech Talk focuses on bunding walls anatomy. Bund walls are a retaining wall around storage to ensure spillage of liquid can be contained. A well designed oil and chemical bund will stop hazardous materials leaking to ground or surface water. For large oil and chemical tanks, bunding is usually provided by a concrete bund composed of walls surrounding the tank. For small tanks and for drums, plastic portable bunding is common as well as bunded steel storage cabinets.

Each bunded area that contains two or more vertical tanks shall be subdivided at least by
intermediate bund walls or drainage channels, to prevent spills from one tank from endangering adjacent tanks within that bunded area. To permit access, the outside toe of the bund wall at ground level shall be no closer than 3 meters to any property boundary that is or can be built upon.

• Not less than 0,6 m wide at the top of the wall.
• Earthen walls must have a of height 1 m or more and shall have a flat section.
• The min distance between a tank and the toe of an interior bund wall shall be at least 1,5 meters.
• Walls of the bunded area shall be of earth or concrete.
• Withstand a full hydrostatic head of water.
• Shall be designed to be liquid-tight.

The 110% rule is applicable where there is only 1 container stored inside the bund, in this situation the calculation is simple, the bund needs to have a capacity of at least 110% of the primary containment volume. For example if a tank has a capacity of 10,000 litres the bund needs to have a capacity of 11,000 litres. This Monday Tech Talk featured the bunding wall anatomy and all the needed requirements.

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