Risk assessment of offshore fire accidents caused by subsea gas release

Journal article (2021)

Authors

Xinhong Li Dalian University of Technology, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology
Faisal Khan Memorial University of Newfoundland
M. Yang Technology, Policy and Management, Safety and Security Science - TPM
C. Chen Safety and Security Science - TPM
Guoming Chen China University of Petroleum (East China)
Research Group
Safety and Security Science (TPM) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2021 Xinhong Li, Faisal Khan, M. Yang, C. Chen, Guoming Chen
DOI
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apor.2021.102828
Risk assessment Casualty probability Offshore facility Offshore fire Subsea gas release
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Published Date

2021

Language

English

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Faculty

Technology, Policy and Management

Department

Values Technology and Innovation

Research Group

Safety and Security Science

Abstract

Subsea gas release is an industrial hazard that can impose fire hazards on offshore facilities near the gas surfacing area. However, risk assessment of the fire caused by subsea gas release is challenged due to inadequate recognition of the knowledge of subsea gas release mechanism and resulting hazards. At present, minimal researches involving risk assessment of offshore fire resulting from a subsea gas release were reported, and this paper is an extension of the previous works on subsea gas behavior. This paper focuses on modeling fire risk on offshore facilities due to subsea gas release. A numerical simulation is carried out using the Computational Fluid Dynamic technique of Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) to analyze fire propagation characteristics and assess the impact of fire on personnel and assets. A probit model is adopted to calculate the probabilities of injury or death caused by fire hazards. This study also investigates the effect of wind speed, gas release rate and the distance between gas pool and platform on fire impacts and casualty probabilities. The present study can support safety measure design to mitigate or avoid the impacts of offshore fire events from subsea gas release.