The Importance of a CFD Approach for the Study of Real Accidental Scenario in the Process Industry

摘要

In the process industry, the consequences of accidental events leading to potential major disasters evidence the importance in determining the correct evolution of the different physical phenomena involved. In particular, when dealing with complex scenarios such those encountered in real plants the use of simplified models can evince strong limits of applicability. For this reason the availability of advanced numerical models together with the possibility of using high speed processors, at limited costs, has enticed the industry in applying the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes, that allow a more accurate numerical description of the problem. Scope of this paper is to show the excellent performances of this approach in simulating the evolution of different accidental scenarios of particular interest for improving the safety process plants. The application of two CFD codes for the analysis of three different accidental scenarios, i.e. pool fire, room fire and explosion, will be described with an exhaustive discussion of the results obtained. The conclusions will underline the growing interest of the oil and gas industry for the application of CFD codes in the analysis of accidental events both as part of quantitative risk assessment study and as a support for the design of safer plants.