Abstract
To provide information concerning quantitative risk analysis of gas‐storage caverns, it is vital to estimate the hazard area of dispersion caused by accidental leakage. The Gaussian plume model is selected to calculate the hazard area caused by continuous leakage; the method of analysis is validated using wind‐tunnel experiments of acetylene. Fluent is used to simulate the hazard area of dispersion caused by instantaneous leakage; the method of numerical simulation is verified by Burro/Coyote trials. Furthermore, a sample underground gas‐storage cavern in salt rock is examined with respect to the toxic threshold limit value and the upper and lower flammability limits. In doing so, the factors that influence the hazard range of dispersion from salt cavern are discussed. The results indicate that the hazard area decreases with an increase in wind speed and a decrease in atmospheric stability when the leakage is continuous. However, the hazard area decreases with a decrease in wind speed when leakage is instantaneous.
Highlights
Deep underground salt caverns have been rapidly excavated and extensively utilized in developed European and American countries as “highly secure strategy energy reserve systems” ever since Canada first proposed the idea that rock caves can be used to store liquid and gas in the 1940s [1, 2]
On the basis of the theoretical and experimental study, research institutions have developed a number of software systems based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) that can simulate gas diffusion, such as DEGADIS developed by the US Coast Guard and the Gas Institute Ltd., the HGSYSTEM developed by American Shell Institute Ltd with the support of 20 chemical and petrochemical companies, the EXSIM developed by the University of Aalbord in Denmark, FLACS developed by Christian Michelsen Institute in Norwegian, PHOENICS developed by the British CHAM Company, CFX developed by UK AEA Technology, STAR-CD developed jointly by Imperial College Institute and CD-adapco Group, and Fluent developed by the FLUENT in the US [19, 25, 26]
An integrated analysis method was proposed to assess the hazard area of dispersion caused by accidental leakage from underground gas-storage caverns in salt rock
Summary
Deep underground salt caverns have been rapidly excavated and extensively utilized in developed European and American countries as “highly secure strategy energy reserve systems” ever since Canada first proposed the idea that rock caves can be used to store liquid and gas in the 1940s [1, 2]. A sample natural gas storage cavern in salt rock is analyzed with the proposed method and the dangerous areas associated with dispersion caused by leakage are determined according to industry occupational protection standards [15, 16]. Erefore, in this paper, the hazard area associated with dispersion caused by leakage from underground gas-storage caverns in salt rock is analyzed using theoretical analysis and numerical simulations. On the basis of the theoretical and experimental study, research institutions have developed a number of software systems based on CFD that can simulate gas diffusion, such as DEGADIS developed by the US Coast Guard and the Gas Institute Ltd., the HGSYSTEM developed by American Shell Institute Ltd with the support of 20 chemical and petrochemical companies, the EXSIM developed by the University of Aalbord in Denmark, FLACS developed by Christian Michelsen Institute in Norwegian, PHOENICS developed by the British CHAM Company, CFX developed by UK AEA Technology, STAR-CD developed jointly by Imperial College Institute and CD-adapco Group, and Fluent developed by the FLUENT in the US [19, 25, 26]
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