EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS
HSE HSL/2005/11
CFD Modelling of Low Pressure Jets for Area Classification
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SUMMARY
The objective of this work was to perform a number of CFD simulations of low pressure gas leaks over a range of pressures (0.5 to 5.0 barg) and hole sizes (0.25 to 5.0 mm2 ). The size of the gas clouds obtained from these simulations was compared to those obtained from the British Standard BS EN 60079-10:2003, which presents simple formulae for estimating gas cloud volumes. The results from the CFD simulations indicate that the gas cloud volumes specified according to the “Vz” criteria, may be overestimated for low pressure releases by two to three orders of magnitude using the BS EN 60079-10:2003 formulae. This clearly has implications in terms of the current practice of hazardous area classification.
This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the author(s) alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy
