Case Study
Helping Industry - Gas Leaks from Low Pressure Natural Gas Systems
The Client
- Burgoyne Consultants
- Corus Construction and Industrial
- Danish Gas Technology Centre
- Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency Planning
- EnergieNed
- EON-UK
- Epsilon Compliance (Europe)
- Gastec Technology
- Gasunie
- Hamworthy Combustion
- Health and Safety Executive
- Knauf Insulation Ltd
- National Grid
- Northern Gas Networks
- SGL Technic Ltd
- Slough Heat and Power
The Problem
- The ATEX Workplace Directive (1999/92/EC) has been implemented
in the UK as the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmosphere
Regulations (DSEAR).
- These regulations require area classification to be carried out
where there may be a risk of explosion due to the presence of
flammable substances.
- Existing standards for area classification were not developed
to be applicable to low pressure gas systems and complying with the
regulations using these standards would be costly to industry.
What We Did
HSL has a
proven track record in the field of ventilation, gas explosions and
fluid flow modelling .
- The project took advantage of the dedicated research facilities
at HSL including use of the purpose built test enclosure on site at
HSL.
- We carried out a review of methods for assessing the
effectiveness of ventilation for preventing the build up of gas
following a low pressure gas leak.
- We carried out a series of experiments to provide data to
validate a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model of low pressure
gas leaks in ventilated enclosures.
- We used the CFD model to develop a methodology for the area
classification of low pressure gas systems.
Outcome/Benefits
This study led to the development of a more cost effective
approach to meeting the regulatory requirements, characterised
by:
- A reduction in the need for costly area classification
assessments.
- The removal of the requirement for the unnecessary installation
of expensive protected equipment.
- The ability to restrict costs to areas of genuine risk.
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