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Introduction | Fire, Explosion & Process Safety | Human Factors & Risk Assessment
Occupational & Environmental Health | Safety Engineering | Work Environment

Case Studies - Fire, Explosion & Process Safety

Mechanical Ignition of Explosive Gas and Dust Atmospheres
HSL is leading a collaborative programme of work to study the characteristics of sparks and hot surfaces produced by impact, friction and grinding processes and assess their potential to ignite explosive atmospheres and combustible dusts.
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Detonation resistance of ammonium nitrate (AN)
HSL provided technical advice to DEFRA during the drafting of new regulations regarding the control of AN-based materials, and is currently undertaking resistance to detonation tests.

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Gas turbine safety
In a recent project, the combination of experiment and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has led to a revised ventilation safety criterion for industrial gas turbines.

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Natural gas releases from high pressure pipelines
HSL was commissioned to investigate the behaviour of gas leaks in high pressure pipelines, in order to develop a model to predict the consequences.

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Runaway chemical reactions
A runaway chemical reaction on an industrial scale can lead to an explosion with catastrophic consequences. HSL has looked at certain design methodologies used for the construction of pressure relief systems commonly used to prevent such explosions.

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Safety aspects of the Jubilee Line extension
Ventilation systems have been installed to direct smoke out of each station, and particularly away from the platforms and running tunnels. HSL evaluated the use of CFD modelling to assess the fire safety of complex spaces such as those found in underground systems.

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Effects of fire on containers storing fireworks
HSL has carried out a number of experiments to assess the effects of an external fire on different types of fireworks stored in ISO containers.
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Assessment & control of risks from chemical warehouse fires
HSL's work is providing valuable information on how large quantities of toxic materials can be more safely stored in warehouses.
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Flash fires
Accidental releases of flammable liquids or gases can result in the formation of a cloud of flammable vapour. HSL studied the ignition of such vapour clouds following the release of LPG. Results are being used to validate a flash fire computer model.
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Offshore gas detection Modelling of offshore gas detector location
Accidental releases of gases on offshore installations can lead to the accumulation of explosive mixtures. Gas detection equipment is used to help avoid this possibility and HSL has examined how flammable gas detector networks respond to natural gas releases.
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Long-term performance of passive fire protection
Passive fire protection (PFP) coatings are widely used in the onshore and offshore petrochemical industry. Further work involving jet fire testing has been done at HSL to assess the long-term durability of PFP coatings.
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