Protection of civil and industrial environment against explosions of pressure vessels: sitting and layout of safety barriers

Abstract

Protection of built environment in cities and industrial facilities against the hazard of pressure vessel explosions is considered. The main attention is focused on bursts of vessels used for storage and transportation of liquefied gasses. The risk posed by fragments of exploding tanks is analyzed as the farthest reaching damaging effect of these accidents. It is studied how to reduce or eliminate this risk by means of safety barriers build in the vicinity of vessels posing the hazard under study. Sitting and layout of barriers made of reinforced concrete are considered. It is proposed to design these barriers as cantilever walls allowing to provide protection at the lowest cost. A procedure developed for dynamic analysis and dimensioning of a barrier is suggested. The key input information for this procedure is a sample of values of vessel fragment impact velocities and masses obtained by means of a stochastic simulation. Findings of this study can be applied to all situations where pressure vessel can get into fire and explode. Examples of such situations are tank stations with above-ground gas cylinders, roadside territory in road and railway transportation, sites of facilities used to store or transship liquefied gasses.