title: Assessment of an explosive LPG release accident: a case study.
abstract: In the present paper, an accident occurred during a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tank filling activity has been taken into consideration. During the transfer of LPG from the source road tank car to the receiving fixed storage vessel, an accidental release of LPG gave rise to different final consequences ranging from a pool fire, to a fireball and to the catastrophic rupture of the tank with successive explosion of its contents. The sequence of events has been investigated by using some of the consequence calculation models most commonly adopted in risk analysis and accident investigation. On one hand, this allows to better understand the link between the various events of the accident. On the other hand, a comparison between the results of the calculations and the damages actually observed after the accident, allows to check the accuracy of the prediction models and to critically assess their validity. In particular, it was shown that the largest uncertainty is associated with the calculation of the energy involved in the physical expansion of the fluid (both liquid and vapor) after the catastrophic rupture of the tank.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, Università di Roma Sapienza, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Roma, Italy. bubbico@ingchim.ing.uniroma1.it <bubbico@ingchim.ing.uniroma1.it>
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bubbico
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marchini
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents; D053834:Explosive Agents; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010578:Petroleum
chemical_list: D053834:Explosive Agents; D010578:Petroleum