Layout Issues and Mitigation

Total Raffinage Chemie Exploiosn Loading and Response Semianbr, 26 September 2012, Brussels
Mitigation and Control

Kees van Wingerden
GexCon AS
Bergen, Norway
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
Contents
General
Layout improvements
Building siting
Water deluge system
Flame inhibitors
Prevention of escalation
Summary
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
General: Mitigation and Control

Measures presented here mainly concern:
After-ignition mitigation and control measures
Measures affecting the course of the explosion
Measures regarding the loading of equipment and
safety systems
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
Contents
General
Layout improvements
Building siting
Water deluge system
Flame inhibitors
Summary
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
Possible layout improvements
Shape and size of congested areas
Soft barriers
Safety gaps
Limitation of (semi-)confinement in congested areas

Orientation of equipment in congested areas
Take advantage of dense gas properties
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
Shape of congested area
L=W=H
L>>W or H
Keeping distance between ignition source location

and edge of congested area as short as possible
Limiting maximum length of flame propagation
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
Remember this one? 45 m long array of

cross flow obstructions; no confinement
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
What is soft-barrier approach?

Apply curtains which behave like a wall for gas dispersion scenarios, but yield in an explosion
Can strongly limit size of gas cloud in critical areas, i.e. disaster scenarios are prevented
More confinement during dispersion can increase likelihood for less severe scenarios
Potentially powerful concept for long, quite congested areas
Example of GexCon experiments for customer validating soft-barrier concept

www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
Safety gaps: open areas between

congested areas
Reduction of maximum length of flame accelerations
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GexCon AS
10
Experiments obstructed vs. non-obstructed
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GexCon AS
11
Safety gaps in petrochemical installations
Explosion venting devices affect ventilation

Working conditions: wind chill index
Otherwise:
use vent panels that open at low pressure
(typically 50 mbar)
use very light panels (ca. 5 kg/m2)
Must avoid deflagration to detonation transition (DDT)

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GexCon AS
12
Soft barriers
Safety gaps

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GexCon AS
13
Avoiding semi-confinement:
introduction of grated deck
Usually pressure reducing effect

Certain scenarios worse: Larger scale or faster flames
Usually reducing dangerous gas build-up risk (QRA)
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GexCon AS
14
Avoiding semi-confinement:
introduction of grated deck
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GexCon AS
15
Soft barriers
Safety gaps

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GexCon AS
16
Effect of obstacle orientation
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GexCon AS
17
Effect of obstacle orientation
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GexCon AS
18
Soft barriers
Safety gaps

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GexCon AS
19
Taking advantage of dense gas

properties
Dense gases such as LPG fall to the ground
Hence it would be possible during plant
design to keep congested areas separated
from gas (e.g. putting plants on legs)
Vapor and soft barriers avoiding dispersion of
gas into areas with unavoidable ignition
sources (flames, furnaces, non-classified
areas)
Avoidance of ignition sources at ground level
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
20
Contents
General
Layout improvements
Building siting
Water deluge system
Flame inhibitors
Summary
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
10
21
Strengthening or relocation of control

room
Prediction of explosion loading
Assessment of strength/re-inforcement or
relocation of control room
Introduction of blast walls
API 752 (permanent buildings) and API 753
(temporary buildings)
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GexCon AS
22
Contents
General
Layout improvements
Building siting
Water deluge system
Flame inhibitors
Summary
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
11
23
Water deluge
Common sprinkler system for fire fighting
Activation by gas detection
Mitigation by breaking up of droplets
Resulting small droplets evaporate, take away heat

from combustion reducing burning rate
Important factors:
amount of water (+ droplet size) (typical values: 10

20 l/m2/min)
confinement (+ congestion)
scale
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GexCon AS
24
Effect of water spray on explosions
Effect of water spray can be twofold:

=> turbulence generation can cause increase of
combustion rate
=> droplet evaporation can reduce combustion rate
The latter is only significant after droplet break-up
To achieve droplet break-up at moderate pressures,

low confinement (or large scale) is required.
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GexCon AS
12
25
Effect of initial turbulence
Effect of water spray activated upon gas

detection in 1.5 m3 cabinet
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GexCon AS
26
Pre-ignition turbulence vs amount of water

Fog / multiphase
nozzles
spray
flow field
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13
27
Droplet break-up and evaporation vs pressure

No deluge
LDN
MV57
MV57: 17 l/sqm/min
LDN: 27 l/sqm/min
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GexCon AS
28
Droplet break-up
Droplet break-up: Hydrodynamic forces exceed forces

keeping the droplets together
Weber number: We = v2d/
= gas density
v = relative droplet velocity
d = droplet diameter = surface tension
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GexCon AS
14
29
Water deluge: Experimental results
Highly confined or small clouds: pressure increase

Partially/un-confined & large clouds: pressure reduction
Experiment
Pressure
reduction factor
GexCon M24 (50 m3)
0.5 - 3
BG Bang box (180 m3)
0.17 2.9
SCI (large scale)
1.8 8.8
HSE (large scale)
5 - 50
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GexCon AS
30
Full-scale tests: no deluge

BFETS full
scale - test 7
26mx8mx8m
End igniton
P > 4.4 bar

near exit
Strong
external
explosion
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GexCon AS
15
31
Full-scale test: deluge

BFETS full
scale - test 8
26mx8mx8m
End igniton
P < 0.5 bar
10x reduction
External
explosion and
far field blast
much weaker
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GexCon AS
32
Contents
General
Layout improvements
Building siting
Water deluge system
Flame inhibitors
Summary
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
16
33
Flame inhibitors have strong effect on

combustion rates
normalised laminar burning velocity

(-)
Effect of Sodium Biocarbonate on laminar burning

velocity of propane-air mixtures
1.2
=1
=1.25
=1.5
0.8
=0.88
=0.69
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Concentration sodium bicarbonate (g/m3)
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GexCon AS
34
Two possibilities: pre-ignition dispersion

and post-ignition dispersion
Pre-ignition dispersion implies use of gas
detection to activate flame inhibitor injection
Post-ignition dispersion implies use of flame
detectors to activate flame inhibitor injection
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GexCon AS
17
35
Large-scale experiments: reference

test
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36
Large-scale experiments: reference

test (high speed video)
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GexCon AS
18
37
Large-scale experiments: inhibitor

introduced as a general area agent
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GexCon AS
38
Large-scale experiments: inhibitor

introduced as a general area agent
(high speed video)
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GexCon AS
19
39
Large-scale experiments
Pressure distribution in module for sodium chloride
introduced as a curtain at 3.25 m and as a general
area agent at 3.25 m and 5.25 m from ignition end
Overpressure (bar)
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
P1
P2
P3
No inhibitor
www.gexcon.com
P4
P5
3.25 m
P6
P7
P8
P9 P10
3.25 m and 5.25 m
GexCon AS
40
Pre-ignition dispersion is more

effective
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GexCon AS
20
41
Contents
General
Layout improvements
Building siting
Water deluge system
Flame inhibitors
Summary
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
42
Design Accidental Load (DAL) must be established
Design walls/decks/big objects for DAL: static pressure load
Design of piping & supports to withstand DAL: drag forces
Design of safety critical system to withstand DAL (e.g. water

deluge system)
Assurance that escape routes are not damaged or blocked
Passive fire protection (PFP) shall withstand DAL
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GexCon AS
21
43
Prevention of escalation: testing of PFP
Damage to passive fire protection

due to explosion and drag forces
Passive fire protection installed

around piping and valves in high
drag forces zone in test module
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GexCon AS
44
Contents
General
Layout improvements
Building siting
Water deluge system
Flame inhibitors
Summary
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
22
45
Thank you very much for your

attention!!
sgdavis@gexcon.com
www.gexcon.com
GexCon AS
23

Layout Issues and Mitigation

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Total Raffinage Chemie Exploiosn Loading and Response Semianbr, 26 September 2012, Brussels

Mitigation and Control

General: Mitigation and Control

Possible layout improvements

Shape and size of congested areas

Limitation of (semi-)confinement in congested areas

Shape of congested area

Keeping distance between ignition source location

Limiting maximum length of flame propagation

Remember this one? 45 m long array of

What is soft-barrier approach?

Example of GexCon experiments for customer validating soft-barrier concept

Safety gaps: open areas between

Experiments obstructed vs. non-obstructed

Safety gaps in petrochemical installations

Explosion venting devices affect ventilation

Must avoid deflagration to detonation transition (DDT)

Possible layout improvements

Shape and size of congested areas

Limitation of (semi-)confinement in congested areas

Usually pressure reducing effect

Possible layout improvements

Shape and size of congested areas

Limitation of (semi-)confinement in congested areas

Effect of obstacle orientation

Effect of obstacle orientation

Possible layout improvements

Shape and size of congested areas

Limitation of (semi-)confinement in congested areas

Taking advantage of dense gas

Strengthening or relocation of control

Common sprinkler system for fire fighting

Activation by gas detection

Mitigation by breaking up of droplets

Resulting small droplets evaporate, take away heat

amount of water (+ droplet size) (typical values: 10

Effect of water spray on explosions

Effect of water spray can be twofold:

The latter is only significant after droplet break-up

To achieve droplet break-up at moderate pressures,

Effect of initial turbulence

Effect of water spray activated upon gas

Pre-ignition turbulence vs amount of water

Droplet break-up and evaporation vs pressure

Droplet break-up: Hydrodynamic forces exceed forces

Water deluge: Experimental results

Highly confined or small clouds: pressure increase

GexCon M24 (50 m3)

BG Bang box (180 m3)

SCI (large scale)

HSE (large scale)

Full-scale tests: no deluge

P > 4.4 bar

Full-scale test: deluge

Flame inhibitors have strong effect on

normalised laminar burning velocity

Effect of Sodium Biocarbonate on laminar burning

Concentration sodium bicarbonate (g/m3)

Two possibilities: pre-ignition dispersion

Large-scale experiments: reference

Large-scale experiments: reference

Large-scale experiments: inhibitor

Large-scale experiments: inhibitor

3.25 m and 5.25 m