Analysis of crater formation in buried NG pipelines: A survey based on past accidents and evaluation of domino effect

The formation of a crater by the abrupt and catastrophic rupture of a high-pressure pipeline can be highly relevant, especially when the crater uncovers other pipelines, which could undergo a domino effect with a significant increase of the consequences on people or on the environment. However, this scenario has been only partially studied in the literature. To assess the influence of the pipeline parameters on the dimensions of the resulting crater, a statistical analysis of accidental ruptures of buried natural gas pipelines that have involved the formation of a crater was carried out. Mathematical expressions are proposed to describe the proportionality relationships found, which can be very useful to support adequate separation distances in the design and construction of parallel corridors of pipelines after appropriate escalating effects are considered. Finally, detailed event trees were developed to calculate the probability of occurrence of the final outcomes, as well as the identified domino sequences, based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data. The study of these accident scenarios, based on actual cases, represents a useful and needed advance in risk analysis of natural gas transportation through pipelines.     

System dynamics research of non-adaptive evacuation psychology in toxic gas leakage emergencies of chemical park

Chemical industry park plays an important role in optimizing the allocation of resources, but an emergency may make a great deal of personnel casualty and property loss. Many casualties are not the result of accidents but are caused by extreme behavior because of the non-adaptive psychology of the evacuees. Panic is one of the non-adaptive psychological behaviors during an evacuation, which is influenced by a variety of factors. Based on the consideration of the disaster environment and the evolution of crowd emotion, a system dynamics model of panic spread is established by using Anylogic software, and simulation experiments are carried out for different disaster severity, visibility, and groups. The results show that the number of people with severe panic increase when visibility decreases or disaster diffuses. Besides, the appropriate proportion of groups can effectively reduce the cooling time of crowd and ease the fears. However, continue to increase the number of groups has no significant effect on the panic control. This work can provide some reasonable guidance for regional emergency evacuation in chemical park.     

Effects of EGR on performance and emissions of a diesel engine fuelled with balanites aegyptiaca/diesel blends

In this study, balanites Aegyptiaca (L.) Del biodiesel was blended in proportions of 10% and 20% on the volume basis with diesel fuel and tested in a single cylinder, VCR diesel engine under measured load conditions with varied EGR rates (0, 10 and 20%). The results showed that B10 and B20 blends shown a significant reduction rate in terms of NO_x emissions that were familiar with biodiesel blends. At peak load conditions, BTE increased slightly for test fuel blends compared with pure diesel fuel while the BSFC rate and EGT suffered from increasing and decreasing nature with respect to blending percentage. From the emissions point of view, with the increase in blends percentage, a significant reduction rate is observed in terms of CO and HC concentrations (up to 12.34 and 17.5%, respectively) while NOx emissions decreased at peak load conditions (up to 24.34%). HC and CO emissions decreased with increase in blends percentage. However, lower levels of NO_x and EGT (up to 21.37 and 8.47%, respectively) and the average increase in terms of BTE and BSFC (up to 2.83 and 2.9%, respectively) can be realised with B20 test fuel blend under 20% EGR rate.     

钻屑法测定煤层H_2S含量

为了测定煤层硫化氢(H2S)含量,防治矿井H2S涌出,提出一种通过钻屑法测定煤层H2S含量的方法。在未受采动影响的新鲜煤壁,采用钻屑法取样,通过测定煤样H2S解吸量、取样过程损失量和H2S残存量确定煤层H2S含量。根据溶于水中H2S的p H值和色谱分析解吸气体中H2S体积分数,确定H2S解吸量;根据煤样解吸规律和气样H2S体积分数,确定H2S损失量;根据色谱分析残存气体中H2S体积分数,确定其残存量。用此方法,对山西某矿H2S涌出煤层进行现场和实验室测定。研究表明,该矿H2S含量为(4.465~6.701)×10-3m3/t。钻屑法测定煤层H2S含量是可行的,可以为矿井H2S治理提供基础数据。     

高瓦斯工作面隅角柔性气囊安全封堵研究

为解决高瓦斯工作面隅角封堵工人劳动强度大、效率低,封堵效果不佳易造成隅角瓦斯浓度超限等安全问题,研发设计了矿用阻燃内外胆组合结构的轻型柔性隅角封堵气囊,并相应提出了单体液压支柱配合轻型柔性气囊的隅角封堵新方法。通过实验室测试实验和现场工业性试验表明:选用PVC材料和双抗涂覆布材料的气囊质量小、轻便实用,大幅降低了工人的劳动强度,提高了工作效率,减小了传统封堵方式编织袋装碎煤造成的遗煤浪费;该气囊可适应大变形(变形率可达42.5%)、耐冲击(2×104J的冲击能量不破坏),抗撕扯能力强,且具有阻燃特性,重复使用率高,大大节约了隅角封堵的成本;使用气囊封堵后,采空区内瓦斯浓度显著增大,说明气囊封堵的密闭性增加,安全封堵效果十分明显。     

深孔预裂爆破对含坚硬顶板高瓦斯煤层的综合作用研究

为研究深孔预裂爆破技术在含坚硬顶板高瓦斯煤层开采中的应用,以顾桥矿1123(1)工作面坚硬顶板为研究对象,基于小挠度理论建立了坚硬顶板垮落力学模型,导出了初次来压步距计算式;综合考虑瓦斯抽采需要,对深孔预裂爆破孔进行了优化设计,并在工作面顶板中开展了现场试验研究。结果表明:在工作面推进至27.3m时出现垮落,爆破后钻孔瓦斯流量显著增加,部分提高至30倍以上,瓦斯抽采量提高了3.5倍,初采期间安全回采煤炭25万吨,实现了坚硬顶板控制和卸压增透双重作用。     

Numerical simulation of small-scale pool fires of LNG

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) has been largely indicated as a promising alternative solution for the transportation and storage of natural gas. In the case of accidental release on the ground, a pool fire scenario may occur. Despite the relevance of this accident, due to its likelihood and potential to trigger domino effects, accurate analyses addressing the characterization of pool fires of LNG are still missing.In this work, the fire dynamic simulator (FDS) has been adopted for the evaluation of the effects of the released amount of fuel and its composition (methane, ethane, and propane), on the thermal and chemical properties of small-scale LNG pool fire. More specifically, the heat release rate, the burning rate, the flame height, and thermal radiation, at different initial conditions, have been evaluated for pool having diameter smaller than 10 m. Safety distances have been calculated for all the investigated conditions, as well.Results have also been compared with data and correlations retrieved from the current literature. The equation of Thomas seems to work properly for the definition of the height over diameter ratio of the LNG pool fire for all the mixture and the investigated diameters.The addition of ethane and propane significantly affects the obtained results, especially in terms of radiative thermal radiation peaks, thus indicating the inadequacy of the commonly adopted assumption of pure methane as single, surrogate species for the LNG mixture.     

飞行员人因可靠性定量预测

为有效预测飞行员的人因可靠性,以保障飞行安全,基于认知可靠性与失误分析法(CREAM)的扩展法,建立飞行员人因可靠性定量预测模型。依据飞行员的任务特点,调整认知行为及认知功能。通过优化共同绩效条件(CPC)因子水平等级,并增加新的因子,改进CPC因子依赖规则,用于修正因子的初始评估结果,解决扩展法未考虑因子间关系的问题,从而完成模型的建立。利用回看分析法验证模型的有效性,采用所建立的模型和扩展法分别对已发生的飞行案例进行预测,并与实际发生结果对比分析。结果表明,与扩展法相比,采用飞行员定量预测模型得到的预测结果与案例发生结果所反映的控制模式更为匹配。     

Emerging conservation challenges and prospects in an era of offshore hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation

Globally, extensive marine areas important for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem functioning are undergoing exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas resources. Such operations are expanding to previously inaccessible deep waters and other frontier regions, while conservation‐related legislation and planning is often lacking. Conservation challenges arising from offshore hydrocarbon development are wide‐ranging. These challenges include threats to ecosystems and marine species from oil spills, negative impacts on native biodiversity from invasive species colonizing drilling infrastructure, and increased political conflicts that can delay conservation actions. With mounting offshore operations, conservationists need to urgently consider some possible opportunities that could be leveraged for conservation. Leveraging options, as part of multi‐billion dollar marine hydrocarbon operations, include the use of facilities and costly equipment of the deep and ultra‐deep hydrocarbon industry for deep‐sea conservation research and monitoring and establishing new conservation research, practice, and monitoring funds and environmental offsetting schemes. The conservation community, including conservation scientists, should become more involved in the earliest planning and exploration phases and remain involved throughout the operations so as to influence decision making and promote continuous monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystems. A prompt response by conservation professionals to offshore oil and gas developments can mitigate impacts of future decisions and actions of the industry and governments. New environmental decision support tools can be used to explicitly incorporate the impacts of hydrocarbon operations on biodiversity into marine spatial and conservation plans and thus allow for optimum trade‐offs among multiple objectives, costs, and risks.     

煤矿照度对人反应时间和可靠度的影响研究

煤矿综采工作面狭窄,工作环境昏暗,照明环境普遍不好,是近年来井下事故多发的重要因素之一。针对目前煤矿综采工作面存在的照度问题,通过控制光照时间和操作难度,利用舒尔特表测算反应时间和操作可靠度,使用SPSS20. 0和Excel进行数据处理,设计试验组和对照组来进行对比试验。结果表明,1)从反应时间来看,0～25 min,试验组平均反应时间的变化趋势与对照组相反,被试者的注意力先下降后上升; 25～55 min,被试者逐渐适应低照度环境,反应时间也在逐渐缩短;被试者在低照度条件下操作55 min后,反应时间随光照时间增加而大幅度增加,超过劳动时间临界值后,视觉疲劳度迅速增加,反应急速减慢,从而可能导致安全事故的发生,影响生产效率,此时应合理安排工人休息。2)从操作难度来看,在简单及正常操作难度时,试验组和对照组操作可靠度变化比较接近,表明低照度条件对一般操作的可靠度影响不明显;在极难操作难度时,低照度条件对可靠度影响明显,在井下生产过程中,低照度环境下应尽量避免安排复杂的机械化操作。3)反应时间与光照时间呈二次函数关系,通过建立回归方程量化了两者的关系,为以后合理安排煤矿工人劳动休息时间提供了理论依据。