An Analysis of the Gas Pipeline Explosion at Ghislenghien, Belgium

摘要

On July 30, 2004 the rupture of a major underground high-pressure natural gas pipeline in Ghislenghien, Belgium resulted in 15 deaths and over 120 injuries. According to local media the explosion happened some 30 minutes after an initial leak from the gas line. This paper describes the development of a robust numerical simulation which elucidates in a quantitative manner low-temperature-induced catastrophic failure as a plausible mechanism for rupture of such pipelines. Starting with an initial leak in the form of a small diameter puncture, the model simulates all the important processes taking place during depressurisation, including the depressurisation rate as well as the significant accompanying drops in the temperatures of the escaping gas and the pipe wall. The latter is shown to fall well below its ductile/brittle transition temperature thus causing a significant drop in its fracture toughness. The application of the model to a hypothetical gas pipeline reveals that the resulting computed total thermal and pressure stresses exceed the modified pipe wall fracture toughness during depressurisation thus leading to its catastrophic failure.