Development of a Methodology for Toxic and Flammable Gases Sensors Positioning in Oil Platforms

摘要

Importance of these sensor rules may be evaluated if one considers all potential costs of compensations, environmental impacts, life loss and profit loss. This work presents the development of a computational tool that supplies optimum position and number for gas detectors in an oil platform. Associating CFD simulation results with coherent mathematical treatment, this methodology presents improvements in relation to other studies of gas dispersion and sensor positioning. This mathematical treatment supported by this computational tool is responsible for all calculation methods and for the display of graphical results of the locations to place detectors both for toxic (hydrogen sulfide, for instance) and flammable (like methane) gases. Gas detection projects are usually based on standards and technical notes that do not supply all necessary information for proper sensor positioning. In the same way, although qualitative methodologies are used intensively and are quite accepted, they are not as accurate because, in most cases, the final decision is based on personal analysis and previous experience. Although experience will always remain an important asset in this kind of service, development of such a computational tool as the one described in this paper will reduce project schedules, besides providing more accurate and less intuitive results.