PUBLICATIONS AND VIDEOS

SUMMARY

This report consists of Appendices B, C & D of the BFETS Phase 3a report. These include the recordings measured by the following instrumentation during the explosion experiments:

• Pressure transducers located outside the test rig;
• Linear displacement transducers (to measure wall panel displacement);
• Strain gauges (to measure the effect of an explosion on the strengthening braces).

The HSE funded project, known as Phase 3a, was conducted between May 1997 and March 1998 and comprised of 45 experiments conducted in a test rig representing, at full scale, an offshore module. During each experiment the test rig was filled with a gas / air mixture and ignited by a single spark at a specified location. The programme commenced with the first series of experiments (comprising seven tests) with confinement only present at the floor and roof. This series included both 'dry' tests and those with full area deluge. The next series of experiments (comprising eight tests) involved confinement on one long wall as well as the floor and roof. Again, both 'dry' tests and those with deluge were included, in the form of full area deluge and deluge curtains. The remaining thirty experiments were conducted with no wall confinement and with part of the roof removed. During these tests, various deluge systems including full area deluge, water curtains and vessel specific deluge, were studied. The equipment layout inside the module was also modified to include a greater equipment density and the inclusion of scaffolding. This final test series also incorporated eleven experiments (a set of five and a set of six) which were designed to study the repeatability of the results.

The full report is publicly available from the HSE Website at www.hse.gov.uk/research/otopdf/1999/oto99043d.pdf