Risk-based quantitative method for determining blast-resistant and defense loads of petrochemical buildings

Abstract

Petrochemical buildings are usually distributed near chemical installations and have a high risk of explosion because of the concentration of people. In order to effectively design and protect buildings against explosion, it is needed to determine the blast-resistant and defense loads reasonably. Based on the theory of risk, a triangular pyramid explosion risk model was established in this study, which combined the overpressure p, duration t, and frequency f of the explosion scene at the same time. The first principle of “acceptable cumulative frequency” and the key principle of “maximum explosion risk” were formulated. According to this method, the explosion risk of eight leakage units with 10 groups of leakage hole size and three dangerous wind directions were obtained. According to the cumulative explosion frequency curve and the explosion risk curve, blast-resistant and defense loads of the four walls were determined quantitatively. Among the four walls, the explosion overpressure were 44.0–74.5 kPa, and the corresponding duration were 34.1–39.1 ms. The cumulative explosion frequency were 2.11E−5 to 8.58E−5 times annually. The explosion risk value were 3.64E−3 to 5.35E−3 kPa·ms annually. The results indicated that it was of great importance for the calculation of the explosion risk to reasonably divide the leakage unit and determine the leakage frequency. The explosion scene and its frequency, the volume of the obstructed region, and the distance of the explosion source were the key variables that affected the explosive load. The final blast-resistant and defense load values were found in the case of the middle hole size leakage. Blast-resistant and defense loads not only met the risk acceptance standard but also considered the overpressure and the duration of explosion. At present, they have been extensively applied in the blast-resistant design and engineering transformation of buildings in SINOPEC.