A Comparison of Deterministic and StochasticApproaches to Solve the Facility Layout Problemwith Toxic Releases

摘要

Process units are grouped into facilities and the facility concept is extended to includeservices and control rooms. Two approaches, deterministic and stochastic, proposed bythe authors in previous studies are compared in this work. The stochastic approachconsiders the random effect of meteorological conditions, reported in databases, on thetoxic dispersion. A Monte Carlo method is used to estimate the directional riskdistribution for a given release scenario. The deterministic approach is based on theworst scenario where the stochastic meteorological condition is reduced to calmconditions. The problem was formulated as a disjunctive nonlinear optimization model,converted in a MINLP and solved with the GAMS package. The results indicate that thedeterministic approach provides more conservative layouts indicating the need ofincluding means to regulate and reduce the risk.