Structural Response of Blast Wall to Gas Explosion on Semi-Confined Offshore Plant Topside

Abstract

Since gas explosion is the most frequent accidental event occurring in the oil and gas industry, all safety-related critical elements on the topside of offshore platforms should retain their integrity against extreme pressure demands. Although considerable effort has been devoted to develop blast-resistant design methods for offshore structures, there remain several issues that require further investigation. The duration of the triangular-shaped blast design pressure curve with a completely positive side is usually determined by the absolute area of each measured transient pressure response, using the flame acceleration simulator (FLACS). The negative phase pressure in a general gas explosion, however, is often quite crucial, unlike gaseous detonation or TNT explosion. The objective of this study is to thoroughly examine the effect of the negative phase pressure on structural behavior. A blast wall for a specific floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) topside is considered as an exemplar structure for blast-resistant design to focus only on overpressure because there is no drag pressure in this type of obstacle. Gas dispersion and explosion simulations were carried out using FLACS, while LS-DYNA was used in the nonlinear transient finite element structural analysis.

The Chemical Dynamics of Gas Explosion in a Confined Space

“…When people use energy for production and living, they also cause serious environmental pollution problems [1]. Therefore, in order to meet the needs of social production and residents 'lives, and also reduce environmental pollution problems, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, and other clean combustible gas fuels have been widely used in industrial production and residents' lives because of their low environmental pollution after combustion [2][3]. Methane is the simplest known organic substance, and it is widely distributed in nature.…”

“…A flame acceleration simulator (FLACS) is commonly used to determine the duration of a triangle blasted design pressure curve with a fully positive direction from the absolute area of each measured transient pressure response. However, unlike gas explosions or TNT explosions, the negative phase pressure in general gas explosions is often critical [18]. B.-S. Nie and others analyzed the phenomenon of bright spots in the observation window during the gas explosion.…”

Coupled Dynamic Analysis of Liquid Storage Tanks Under Implosion-Generated Overpressure

“…[4][5][6][7][8] A large number of studies have been carried out in this respect at home and abroad. 9,10 Hu et al 11 predicted the explosion load of combustible gas cloud within the tank using the TNT equivalent model. They discussed the e®ect of TNT equivalent and height-to-diameter ratio on the explosion load within the liquid-free storage tank and obtained the stress-deformation diagram of the storage tank.…”