Abstract
More than 70% of accidents that occur on offshore installations are result of hydrocarbon explosions and fires, which, because they involve blast effects and heat, are extremely hazardous and have serious consequences in terms of human health, structural safety and the surrounding environment. Most such accidents are caused by gas leaks, which, if undetected, can lead to the formation of a concentrated gas cloud that can ignite or explode. An effective gas detection system is important for preventing gas-related catastrophic accidents and can mitigate risk on offshore installations. The aim of this study is to develop a risk-based methodology to aid the initial placement of gas detectors for an efficient gas detection system that will function optimally in all possible scenarios on offshore installations.
Acknowledgements
This study was undertaken in The Lloyd's Register Educational Trust Research Centre of Excellence at Pusan National University, Korea. This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (Grant no.: K20903002030-11E0100-04610) and Pusan National University Research Grant, 2010.
Nomenclature
TeX$AEffi | = | Area efficiency value at each location (two-dimensional plane) |
TeX$AF | = | Area of measurement of the specific flammability limit at each location (two-dimensional plane) |
TeX$Aorg | = | Area of each location (two-dimensional plane) |
TeX$FS | = | Frequency of each gas leak scenario |
TeX$f(x) | = | A random function |
TeX$i | = | Time to detect the specific flammability limit |
TeX$n | = | Total number of scenarios |
TeX$VEffi | = | Volume efficiency value at each location (three-dimensional plane) |
TeX$VF | = | Volume to detect the specific flammability limit at each location (three-dimensional plane) |
TeX$Vorg | = | Volume at each location (two-dimen-sional plane) |
TeX$X1, X2, …, Xn | = | Input random variables |