Safety of atmospheric storage tanks during accidental explosions

Abstract

International audienceThe occurrence of a chain reaction from blast on atmospheric storage tanks in oil and chemical facilities is hard to predict. The current French practice for SEVESO facilities ignores projectiles and assumes a critical peak overpressure value observed from accident data. This method could lead to conservative or dangerous assessments. This study presents various simple mechanical models to facilitate quick effective assessment of risk analysis, the results of which are compared with the current practice. The damage modes are based on experience of the most recent accidents in France. Uncertainty propagation methods are used in order to evaluate the sensitivity and the failure probability of global tank models for a selection of overpressure signatures. The current work makes use of these evaluations to demonstrate the importance of a dynamic analysis to study domino effects in accidents.L'occurrence de réaction en chaîne, dite réaction par effets dominos, sur les réservoirs de stockage atmosphérique suite à une explosion accidentelle dans les installations pétrochimiques est difficile à prévoir. La pratique actuelle française pour les installations SEVESO consiste à ignorer les projectiles et à assumer une valeur de surpression maximale admissible pour les effets de souffle. Cette méthode est susceptible de conduire à des évaluations conservatrices ou dangereuses. Cette étude présente divers modèles mécaniques simples pouvant permettre une évaluation efficace et rapide des risques d'effet dominos. Les modes de comportement des réservoirs sont basées sur l'expérience des plus récents accidents en France. Plusieurs méthodes de propagation des incertitudes sont utilisées afin d'évaluer les sensibilités et la probabilité de défaillance des modèles de réservoir pour une sélection de signaux de surpression. L'étude aboutie sur la sélection de paramètres et de modèles dynamiques pertinents pour l'étude des effets dominos

Risk assessment for handling hazardous substances within the European industry: Available methodologies and research streams

“…Noret et al. (2012), instead, presented a dynamic risk assessment model based on uncertainty propagation methods to be applied when accident explosions occur. Berdouzi et al.…”

“…Furthermore, Bayesian networks have also been used for evaluation of the domino effect, where Khakzad et al (2018) and Zeng et al (2020) implemented a dynamic model of wildfire spread by using the Bayesian network. Noret et al (2012), instead, presented a dynamic risk assessment model based on uncertainty propagation methods to be applied when accident explosions occur. Berdouzi et al (2018) then used dynamic simulation to answer this need for dynamicity, and they combined it with HAZOP analysis and decision matrix risk assessment to assess the risk of an exothermic reaction in a semibatch reactor, whereas Paltrinieri and Reniers (2017) introduced three complementary methods to address dynamic risk assessment of high impact low probability (HILP) events F I G U R E 7 Word cloud of "Data-based risk assessment" cluster on different levels, that is, dynamic hazard identification, dynamic analysis of initiating events, and dynamic analysis of consequences.…”

Uncertainties and their treatment in the quantitative risk assessment of domino effects: Classification and review

“…The equation is valid only when the "far-field" hypothesis, solid "point" explosions assumptions are satisfied (Cozzani and Salzano, 2004). Although probability models are very convenient for estimating the escalation probability because of their simplicity and generality, domino effect evaluation using static models can lead to both conservative and dangerous conclusions considering the wide domain of loading and geometry (Noret et al, 2012). Typically, the probit models are derived based on past accidents and experimental data.…”

The influence of the number of free surfaces on the energy distribution and attenuation law of blasting vibration signals from peripheral holes: field experiment and simulation

“…The researchers mainly describe the blasting-induced vibration through three parameters to establish the relationship it and structural damage, namely, particle peak vibration velocity (PPV), frequency and energy. A convenient measurement, intuitive and easy-to-operate characteristic of PPV makes it a popular criterion for blasting-induced vibration control in practical engineering (Noret et al, 2012). In recent years, researchers have found that it is unreliable to simply use PPV as the criterion of blasting-induced vibration, and the different frequency spectrum structures induced by blasting vibration are also an important cause of structural damage (Aldas, 2010).…”