CFD EXPLOSION SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS

Abstract

This paper describes the various activities involved in conducting a number of Quantitative Risk Assessments (QRA) to identify possible risk reduction measures for an offshore platform being located in an Arctic environment. The program consisted of a number of studies, briefly described in part one, that basically surveyed different options to provide a quantitative basis for narrowing the focus to an option that could then be subjected to a sensitivity analysis. One of the valuable characteristics of a QRA study is the ability to compare various options in a sensitivity analysis to determine the advantages/disadvantages of changes in design. Part two of this paper then presents the actual outputs from the QRA to demonstrate the information available to the design engineers on the project. All activities described occurred during the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) phase of the project, starting as soon as the information necessary to start the study was available. It should be emphasized that this particular study was undertaken for an offshore platform, but the principles apply to any type of process where significant hazards are present. In fact, the author is currently involved in the extensive use of a QRA to optimize the FEED portion of an Ethylene Oxide (EO) project.