IBP1425_12 DEVEPLOPMENT OF A COST EFFICIENT METHODOLOGY TO PERFORM ALLOCATION FO FLAMMABLE AND TOXIC GAS DETECTORS APPLYING CFD TOOLS

Rafael B. Storch1, Gladys Z. Nalvarte 2, Gean F. A. Rocha3

Copyright 2012, Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute - IBP

This Technical Paper was prepared for presentation at the Rio Oi & Gas Expo and Conference 2012, held between September, 1720, 2012, in Rio de Janeiro. This Technical Paper was selected for presentation by the Technical Committee of the event according to the information contained in the final paper submitted by the author(s). The organizers are not supposed to translate or correct the submitted papers. The material as it is presented, does not necessarily represent Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute opinion, or that of its Members or Representatives. Authors consent to the publication of this Technical Paper in the Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012 Proceedings

Abstract
This paper is aimed to present a computational procedure for flammable and toxic gas detector allocation and quantification developed by DNV. The proposed methodology applies Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations as well as operational and safety characteristics of the analyzed region to assess the optimal number of toxic and flammable gas detectors and their optimal location. A probabilistic approach is also used when applying the DNV software ThorEXPRESSLite, following NORSOK Z013 Annex G and presented in HUSER et al. 2000 and HUSER et al. 2001, when the flammable gas detectors are assessed. A DNV developed program, DetLoc, is used to run in an iterative way the procedure described above leading to an automatic calculation of the gas detectors location and number. The main advantage of the methodology presented above is the independency of human interaction in the gas detector allocation leading to a more precise and free of human judgment allocation. Thus, a reproducible allocation is generated when comparing several different analyses and a global criteria appliance is guaranteed through different regions in the same project. A case study is presented applying the proposed methodology.

1. Introduction
Oil and gas production platforms are continuously handling large amount of flammable materials which can lead to significantly destructive fire and explosion events. In order to dimension the gas detection system of the platform against these events, it is needed to perform a detailed gas detector location and quantification assessment. The gas detector allocation and quantification shall take into account several parameters from the platform as well as specifications from safety philosophy of the platform owner. Moreover, the consequences of fires and explosions, in terms of damages and loss of production, also need to be considered in the analysis. The proposed methodology considers these parameters in a holistic way to merge their effects and generate a pair of outputs (location and number of gas detectors) considering specific data for the analyzed installation. In order to generate theses outputs the following subjects play an important role in the proposed methodology: Installation geometry. The geometry is the key issue for any Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation and will define the wind pattern inside the region analyzed as well as will generate loss of momentum in the jet releases simulated, thus, playing a very important role in the dispersion simulations. Leak frequency. This parameter is aimed to specify how often a leak will occur as well as will address the frequency of occurrence of a certain level of concentration of flammable or toxic gas will occur in a specific control volume inside the simulated domain. Hence, the higher the leak frequency the higher will be the probability of gas occurrence in the vicinities of the leak location. Control volume is defined as a 1x1x1 meter volume inside the defined domain for analysis. Ignition probability. For fire and explosion scenarios it is crucial that the ignition probability

______________________________ 1 DSc., COPPE/UFRJ Det Norske Veritas RIO 2 DSc., PUC-RJ Det Norske Veritas HOVIK 3 Bsc., UFRJ Det Norske Veritas RIO

Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012 (immediate and later) is determined for the installation. This parameter varies with the number and intensity of ignition sources, gas dispersion and wind pattern inside the analyzed region, then, must be specified for each installation individually. The software ThorExpressLite, developed by DNV is applied in order to assess the ignition probability. The methodology applied in the ignition assessment is presented in JIP ignition Benchmarking study. Automatic gas detector location and quantification. The proposed approach avoids the need of human judgment when defining the location and number of gas detectors by an automatic procedure that discretizes the region to be analyzed and applies all the frequency and probabilities criterion altogether with the CFD results and safety philosophy to generate the gas detector location and quantification. Thus, removing the human interference in the definition of gas detectors location and quantification reproducible results are delivered by the methodology.

2. Methodology
The proposed methodology for gas dispersion analysis is divided into five steps, shown below. The proposed methodology is an update of the previous methodology developed by DNV for gas detector location but with a significant increase in the number of CFD simulations performed and an automatic gas detector location and quantification. First step: Division of the unit in sub-areas, if necessary. This step allows a more focused analysis on the characteristics of each region of the domain, which makes easier the identification of possible leakage points. Usually this step is done just in large areas. Second step: Definition of leak points and conditions for selection of the dispersion scenarios and simulations applying CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). Thus, a higher reliability is given to the dispersion scenarios selected with the locations of leaks close the places where they really are likely to occur (e.g. flanges and valves). Third step: Determination of the probability of detection given the occurrence of gas leaks in the unit. This procedure considers all dispersion simulations performed in a cumulative way, which makes it possible to identify regions of the three-dimensional domain where there will be a greater likelihood of gas clouds. Thus, the detectors will be allocated in positions that enable them to be more effective. This step is performed by GDOZ software where the domain is divided in 1x1x1 meter cells and the cells that contain gas in the detection concentration (speficied in the inputs of GDOZ program) are marked and a probability of occurrence of gas is attributed based on the frequency of the source that originated the gas cloud. This is done for all the simulations in all the domain and the results of all simulation are added up in such a way that the final output of this step will provide a tridimensional map of the whole domain showing the total probability of occurrence of gas in all domain cells. Fourth Step: Use of probability of detection obtained by considering the occurrence of leaks for allocation of gas detectors. The probabilities obtained in the previous section are used to define the optimal position for gas detectors. DNV program DetLoc is used to obtain the positions of gas detectors. This program uses an algorithm that allows the allocation of detectors in areas where there is a higher occurrence of gas clouds within a specified three-dimensional domain as well as specifying the distance between detectors in a chained way. Fifth Step: The cost-benefit analysis is used to obtain the amount of cost-effective detectors for a given area. This step is executed iteratively by increasing the number of gas detectors, starting from one, and evaluating the cost generated by addition of more detectors as well as the reduction of the cost associated to accidents due to the lack of leaks coverage. Cost of accidents calculation applied for cost benefit analysis is presented below: Total cost CostTOTAL= CostFire+ CostExplosion- CostDetectors

Fire cost CostFire= Event frequency * Accident cost

where, 2

Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012 Event Frequency = Leak frequency * immediate ignition probability* (non-detection probability=f(number of detectors)) Accident cost= repair cost + production loss + human lives loss where, Non-detection probability = 1- detection probability (=f(number of detectors)) Explosion cost Cost Explosion = Event frequency * Accident cost where, Event Frequency = Leak frequency * late ignition probability * (non-detection probability=f(number of detectors)) Accident cost = repair cost + production loss + human lives loss where, Non-detection probability = 1- detection probability (=f(number of detectors)) The detection probability is one of the information provided by DetLoc program for each detector allocated and the late ignition probability is obtained applying ThorExpressLite (DNV) software. Detectors cost CostDetectors = CostAquisition+Costspurious failure+CostMantainance ThorExpressLite is separated in two modules (Thor and ExpressLite) that are used to determine the maximum deterministic overpressure and the probability of occurrence of overpressure, respectively. Thor program was developed based on a database of several explosion projects previously performed by DNV in such a way that the particular overpressures for a given installation can be specified based on inputs from physical characteristics, safety procedures and provided weather data. The overpressure is obtained as function of the gas cloud filling degree, congestion level, confinement level, wind speed inside the analyzed region. The same parameters applied for prediction of overpressure level are applied in the EXPRESSLite module to calculate the ignition probability for a specific installation applying frequency result obtained from part counts and a Monte Carlo technique to emulate a large number of simulations and build an ignition probability exceedence curve. The approach used by ThorExpressLite follows the same philosophy presented in NORSOK Z013 Annex G. Leak frequencies are obtained through part counts and applying software DNV LEAK, which applies the Hydrocarbon Release Database (HCRD). Figure 1 shows a flow diagram of the procedure implemented in the proposed methodology.

Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012

Gas detector allocation study

FLACS Geometry modelling PFD / PIDS Leak location definition 3D model

HCRD database Frequency analysis Dispersion simulation

Heat and mass balance Metheorological data

Safety Phylosophy

GDOZ Gas detector occurrence mapping

DetLoc

ThorEXPRESSLite

Cost benefit and location

Cost benefit data

Cost >= Benefit?

Input data Output data

Optimal number and location found

Figure 1. Flowchart of the proposed methodology.

3. Example of methodology application

An example of application of the proposed methodology is presented in Table 1 and Figure 2. Table 1 shows five columns named ndetec, probabdetec, x, y and z. The first column show the number of the detector allocated, the second column shows the percentage of gas clouds covered with the current number of detectors allocated and the other columns show the coordinates for allocation of each detector. The detectors coordinates are defined based on the criterion presented in the steps defined in the methodology section and are allocated in such way that the first detector is placed in the gas occurrence highest probability cell. The next detectors are allocated based on the distance between the detectors, which is calculated from the probability of occurrence of gas of selected cells in the domain. This distance decreases as the probability of occurrence of gas increases then, the gas detectors are concentrated in the locations where the gas occurrence probability is greater. Figure 2 shows the cost benefit analysis performed. The calculations for obtain the cost and benefits are presented in the fifth step of the methodology proposed. For the presented analysis it is seen that the 20th detectors added is associated to the lowest total cost (difference between cost of accident and cost of detectors acquisition and maintenance). Thus, twenty detectors are needed to cover the installation in a cost-effective way and the coordinate of 4

Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012 detectors are provided in Table 1.

Table 1. Allocation of detectors considering the cost benefit analysis. ndetec 1 2 3 4 5 10 20 35 probabdetect 6.73% 11.16% 18.25% 22.37% 27.01% 36.30% 75.41% 100% x x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x10 x20 x35 y y1 y2 y3 y4 y5 y10 y20 y35 z z1 z2 z3 z4 z5 z10 z20 z35

Figure 2. Cost benefit analysis.

4. Conclusion
The presented methodology has been applied by DNV RIO in several onshore and offshore projects and shows consistent results between input data and generated results. It is also important to highlight the importance of reproducible results obtained when applying an automatic procedure since it avoids the relative judgment and allows a fair reassessment of analysis.

6. References
NORSOK standard Risk and Emergency Preparedness Analysis, Z-013 Annex G, Rev.2A February 2001. HUSER, A., KVERNVOLD, O. Explosion risk analysis Development of a General Method for Gas Dispersion Analyses on Offshore Platforms. Proc. Parallel CFD 2000, 2000. HUSER, A, FOYN, T.E., RASMUSSEN O., TVET, I.M. Cost-Effective Explosion Risk Management of FPSOs. OTC 12951 in Proc. OCT conf., 2001. JIP ignition Benchmarking study. JIP Guidelines for use of JIP Ignition Model., DNV.