Advanced Numerical Simulation of Gas Explosions for Assessing the Safety of Oil and Gas Plant

Abstract

The authors have deeply been interested in concerns about health, safety & environment (HSE) in recent years. HSE demands in engineering, particularly at the design and construction stages, are becoming stricter and stricter. In oil and gas plants, many pieces of equipment, and much of the piping, treat highly flammable gases, such as natural gas, methane, propane and hydrogen, which if released, can cause vapour cloud explosions. Therefore, gas explosions are major risks in oil and gas plants. In particular, safety evaluations in connection with gas leaks and explosions are becoming more important as a part of measures to reduce risks for plants at the design stage. A gas explosion simulation system had been developed in order to respond to the safety demands of society and for the purposes of efficient plant design within an appropriate level of investment. This paper presents a mechanism of a gas explosion, methods for numerical simulations of gas explosions and case studies. To aid such simulations and calculations, advanced numerical simulations, integration of 3D Computer Aided Design (3D-CAD), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) are used. The integrated gas explosion simulation is utilized to predict gas dispersions, gas explosions, blast pressures and structural responses. Understanding the explosion phenomenon can help to avoid risks in oil and gas plants, and the integrated gas explosion simulation can be used to assess the safety of oil and gas plants.