DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTATIONAL TOOL TO PREDICT THE DISTRIBUTION AND CONCENTRATION OF ARGON GAS WITHIN A HIP FACILITY, IN THE EVENT OF CATASTROPHIC DECOMPRESSION OF A HIP VESSEL.

摘要

The safety of employees working in the vicinity of highly pressurized vessels is a major concern at a HIP facility. Although argon gas is inert and non-reactive, it is heavier than air and it can displace air from a confined space. A locally high concentration of Argon gas depletes the amount of oxygen needed for normal breathing and can cause asphyxiation. In evaluating the safety of the working environment at a HIP facility it would be useful to understand the movement and accumulation of argon within a plant during the minutes or seconds immediately following catastrophic decompression of a HIP vessel. In this research, we have successfully employed computational fluid dynamics (CFD), to characterize argon flow within a HIP facility should the integrity of the pressure vessel be lost through an event such as an electrode feed through or a vacuum line failure. This model predicts the localized changes in argon and oxygen concentration with time throughout the plant. The results should prove useful in identifying potentially hazardous area within a HIP facility and also provide guidance in designing or modifying plant ventilation systems, thereby serving as a tool to improve plant safety.