(43a) Why Use CFD for Explosion Studies?

It takes too long! It is too expensive! This is what the safety analyst hears over and over again when discussing the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics for explosion studies. This paper provides an overview of three examples showing the value of CFD in different situations. These examples were relatively simple applications of a CFD that gave convincing evidence to alter the perception of risk from hazardous events. The intent of this paper is to educate the industry as to the possibilities that exist for improving safety when the physics of explosions are better understood. The paper discusses the use of CFD in several examples: (1) vapor overpressure of a large, low pressure, vertical storage tank; (2) a blast wall that (if constructed) would have deflected the blast towards an occupied structure, and (3) an explanation for the damage seen from a distillation column overpressure.