Assignment 5: Risk Assessment

SKKK 4163: Safety and Health in Plant Design

Date of submission: December 27, 2017
1. The storage tank system is shown in Figure 1. The system is used to store process feedstock.
Overfilling of storage tank is a common problem in the process industries. To prevent
overfilling, the storage tank is equipped with a high-level alarm and a high-level shutdown
system. The high-level shutdown system is connected to a solenoid valve that stops the flow
of input stock.

Figure 1: Level control system with alarm.

a) Develop an event tree for the system using the ‘failure of level indicator’ as the initiating
event. Given that the level indicator fails 4 times/yr, estimate the number of overflows
expected per year. Use data in Table 1.
Table 1: Data of the level control system with alarm.
System Failures/demand
High-level alarm 0.01
Operator stops flow 0.1
High-level switch system 0.01

b) Develop a fault tree for the top event of ‘storage tank overflows’. Use the data in Table
11.1 (refer to lecture notes) to estimate the failure probability of the top event and the
expected number of occurrences per year. Determine the minimal cut sets. What are the
most likely failure modes? Improve the design by providing safety measures.

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2. A starter is connected to a motor that is connected to a pump. The starter fails once in 50
years and requires 2 hours to repair. The motor fails once in 20 years and requires 36 hours
to repair. The pump fails once per 10 years and requires 4 hours to repair. Determine the
overall failure frequency, the probability that the system will fail in the coming 2 years, the
reliability, and the unavailability for the system.

3. Draw the fault tree and determine the failure characteristics of the top event as illustrated in
Figure 2. The top event is vessel overflows. In the case of vessel overflowing, high level will
be detected and controlled through control loop. The level is continuously indicated in strip
chart monitored by an operator. In case of high level occurred, the high level switch will
activate the alarm allowing the operator intervention to close valve 7 manually. Use data in
Table 2 to calculate the probability of top event.

Figure 2: Control system to prevent vessel overflow.

Table 2: Data of the control system to prevent the vessel overflow.

Components Failure rate/year
Level measurement fail 0.07
Alarm fail 0.08
Strip chart fail 0.08
Level control (LIC) fail 0.10
Solenoid valve 4 fail 0.08
Level switch (LIA) fail 0.06
Manual valve 7 fail 0.03
Operatir failure 0.05