Study on optimization of shelter locations and evacuation routes of gas leakage accidents in chemical industrial park

Abstract

Safety hazards cannot be ignored during the promotion of local economic development in chemical parks. In a crowded chemical industrial park, heavy casualties and serious economic losses may be incurred in a toxic gas leak accident. Accordingly, the location of emergency shelters and occupant escape routes in chemical parks during gas leakage accidents were examined in this study. Additionally, the risk of leakage in chemical parks throughout the year was assessed by selecting the average values of wind direction, wind speed and temperature across four seasons, and criteria for selecting emergency shelters were set according to the minimum risk of toxic gas leakage throughout the year. Moreover, a 30,000 t/a carbon-five separation construction project was adopted as a case study, where instantaneous leakage of an auxiliary raw material liquid ammonia storage tank occurred. The Floyd algorithm was then used to calculate the evacuation paths for people at multiple sources and multiple endpoints. The influence of the dynamic diffusion of toxic gas around the leakage source point on evacuation route safety was thoroughly analyzed, and occupant evacuation plans were employed in the chemical park based on the shortest evacuation path with the least impact from toxic gases. The findings produced by this study may provide reliable technical support guidance for safety evacuation in regard to toxic gas leakage accidents for personnel in chemical industry parks.