Comparative Analysis of Blast-Load Models in Vapor Cloud Explosions
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 37, Issue 2
Abstract
Vapor cloud explosions (VCEs) continually generate an extreme blast load and cause heavy casualties, property loss, and environmental pollution. It is therefore essential to evaluate and control the consequence of vapor cloud explosions. So far, the widely used models in vapor cloud explosions include the Trinitrotoluene (TNT) equivalency method (TNT EM), the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) multienergy method (TNO MEM), the Baker-Strehlow-Tang (BST) method, and FLACS. In this paper, a review and comparative analysis of vapor cloud explosion models were carried out. Combined with a realistic petrochemical plant with different obstacle blockage ratio, the side-on overpressure and duration were evaluated and analyzed with different vapor cloud explosion models. Based on the predicted blast load, the structural response of RC columns, including nonseismic columns and seismic columns with different cross sections, were studied through computer simulation. Vapor cloud explosion models were compared with each other from the perspective of the structural response. It was found that the selection of vapor cloud explosion models has a great influence on the dynamic response of RC columns; the TNO multienergy method was the most conservative method in all vapor cloud explosion models, but its failure mode was quite different from FLACS in the scenario with a high blocking ratio. The predicted results from the Baker-Strehlow-Tang method were closest to that of FLACS. The structural response of the TNT equivalency method was close to that of the TNO multienergy method with the influence of the blast wave shape in Scenario 1. This work points out the applicable characteristics of each load model, which can provide some suggestions for the blast-load evaluation of vapor cloud explosions in the RC column design.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 51878445, 51678405, and 51938011, the Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of Tianjin under Grant No. 17JCJQJC43900, and the Scientific Research Foundation for Graduate Students of Tianjin under Grant No. 2021YJSB124.
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Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 37 • Issue 2 • April 2023
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 13, 2022
Accepted: Oct 26, 2022
Published online: Dec 29, 2022
Published in print: Apr 1, 2023
Discussion open until: May 29, 2023
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