Integration of process safety engineering and fire protection engineering for better safety performance

Since the inception of the process industries, there have been a great number of process incidents causing significant loss of life and property damage. Even the establishment and implementation of a series of rigorous regulations has not prevented the occurrence of process incidents. In order to protect people, property and the environment a more robust safety program is needed and the safety performance of process industries must continue to improve. In this work, the common ground and the unique characteristics of process safety engineering (PSE) and fire protection engineering (FPE) is reviewed to demonstrate the potential benefits of unifying the two fields or improving the coordination between them to create a more robust safety program, thereby enhancing the safety performance of process industries. Recommendations are made to facilitate and encourage continued discussion and efforts toward the integration of process safety engineering and fire protection engineering.     

建筑火灾评估及双重性分析

本文利用火灾危险性评估的原理，对火灾科学国家重点实验室的五层模型楼进行了初步的火险评估。确定性模型采用区域模拟的计算方法，并综合考虑了随机性因素。结果合理，对于建筑火灾的火险评估具有很好的参考价值。     

Landscape--wildfire interactions in southern Europe: implications for landscape management

Every year approximately half a million hectares of land are burned by wildfires in southern Europe, causing large ecological and socio-economic impacts. Climate and land use changes in the last decades have increased fire risk and danger. In this paper we review the available scientific knowledge on the relationships between landscape and wildfires in the Mediterranean region, with a focus on its application for defining landscape management guidelines and policies that could be adopted in order to promote landscapes with lower fire hazard. The main findings are that (1) socio-economic drivers have favoured land cover changes contributing to increasing fire hazard in the last decades, (2) large wildfires are becoming more frequent, (3) increased fire frequency is promoting homogeneous landscapes covered by fire-prone shrublands; (4) landscape planning to reduce fuel loads may be successful only if fire weather conditions are not extreme. The challenges to address these problems and the policy and landscape management responses that should be adopted are discussed, along with major knowledge gaps.     

Development of a new chemical process-industry accident database to assist in past accident analysis

Past accident analysis (PAA) is one of the most potent and oft-used exercises for gaining insights into the reasons why accidents occur in chemical process industry (CPI) and the damage they cause. PAA provides invaluable ‘wisdom of hindsight’ with which strategies to prevent accidents or cushion the impact of inevitable accidents can be developed.A number of databases maintain record of past accidents in CPI. The most comprehensive of the existing databases include Major Hazard Incident Data Service (MHIDAS), Major Accident Reporting System (MARS), and Failure and Accidents Technical Information Systems (FACTS). But each of these databases have some limitations. For example MHIDAS can be accessed only after paying a substantial fee. Moreover, as detailed in the paper, it is not infallible and has some inaccuracies. Other databases, besides having similar problems, are seldom confined to accidents in chemical process industries but also cover accidents from other domains such as nuclear power plants, construction industry, and natural disasters. This makes them difficult to use for PAA relating to CPI. Operational injuries not related to loss of containment, are also often included. Moreover, the detailing of events doesn’t follow a consistent pattern or classification; a good deal of relevant information is either missing or is misclassified.The present work is an attempt to develop a comprehensive open-source database to assist PAA. To this end, information on about 8000 accidents, available in different open-source clearing houses has been brought into a new database named by us PUPAD (Pondicherry University Process-industry Accident Database). Multiple and overlapping accident records have been carefully eliminated and a search engine has been developed for retrieval of the records on the basis of appropriate classification. PUPAD doesn’t aim to replace or substitute the well established databases such as MHIDAS and MARS but, rather, aims to compliment them.     

冰雪灾害对川南森林可燃物的影响

冰雪灾害是影响森林的一个重要气象干扰因素,并会引起生态系统中其他次生干扰。研究冰雪灾害对森林可燃物的影响,提出可行的灾后可燃物管理技术将为今后应对类似的极端气候事件提供科学依据。基于对川南典型森林雪灾后受损情况调查,定量分析雪灾对各类可燃物的影响。按不同森林类型和受灾强度测定林分基本特征和各类可燃物载量,地表可燃物载量调查采用线状相交可燃物调查方法。结果表明：森林受害程度与树种、林龄、海拔、地形等因素有关,针叶林和针阔混交林树冠受损程度为5%~45%,阔叶林树冠受损程度为3%~8%。雪灾引起的主要是较大径级可燃物载量显著增加,径级≥7.0cm的可燃物占可燃物增量的48%~100%。灾后阔叶林地表径级可燃物载量达1.75 kg/m2,其他林分为0.18kg/m2~0.55 kg/m2。雪灾还改变可燃物空间分布,大量断枝和折断树干增加了可燃物垂直分布连续性,地表火更容易发展为树冠火。受灾严重的林分郁闭度下降,也会引起林下草本增加,有利于火灾的发生与发展。建议对受灾林分的地表可燃物清理以人工或机械清理为主。     

自动喷水冷却系统保护下钢化玻璃作为防火分隔物可行性试验研究

针对目前大型综合性商业建筑拟采用钢化玻璃作为防火分隔物的使用需求,通过建立实体试验模型研究在自动喷水冷却系统保护下钢化玻璃作为防火分隔物有效性,并进而提出可行的自动喷水冷却系统保护方案。研究结果表明：快速响应型洒水喷头在高温烟气作用下可及时启动并对玻璃进行冷却保护,使钢化玻璃完整性未受到破坏,且玻璃背火面温度和热辐射强...     

企业安全生产行为路径管理探讨

企业生产事故的发生大部分是由于人的不安全行为造成的,而人的不安全行为基本上是由于人的不良习惯所引起,因此养成良好的作业习惯,是降低企业生产事故率的决定因素。为了从理论上阐明人的习惯养成规律,笔者首次提出了应用于企业安全生产管理的习惯养成理论——行为路径管理体系：即首先设定一个清晰的行为路径,通过学习或培训并进行反复实践以及过程纠偏的一系列管理活动,最终达到习惯养成的目的。在企业应用行为路径管理体系的过程中,设定作业路径必须达到四个要求：精细化、程序化、标准化以及在实施过程中的不断优化;在培训阶段,必须使被培训者充分掌握设定的作业路径;在过程纠偏阶段,必须把握好代价原则;在实践阶段,必须有一定的时间保障和激励措施。     

Fuzzy fault tree analysis for fire and explosion of crude oil tanks

Crude oil tank fire and explosion (COTFE) is the most frequent type of accident in petroleum refineries, oil terminals or storage which often results in human fatality, environment pollution and economic loss. In this paper, with fault tree qualitative analysis technique, various potential causes of the COTFE are identified and a COTFE fault tree is constructed. Conventional fault tree quantitative analysis calculates the occurrence probability of the COTFE using exact probability data of the basic events. However, it is often very difficult to obtain corresponding precise data and information in advance due to insufficient data, changing environment or new components. Fuzzy set theory has been proven to be effective on such uncertain problems. Hence, this article investigates a hybrid approach of fuzzy set theory and fault tree analysis to quantify the COTFE fault tree in fuzzy environment and evaluate the COTFE occurrence probability. Further, importance analysis for the COTFE fault tree, including the Fussell–Vesely importance measure of basic events and the cut sets importance measure, is performed to help identifying the weak links of the crude oil tank system that will provide the most cost-effective mitigation. Also, a case study and analysis is provided to testify the proposed method.     

基于火灾监控视频的人员疏散行为统计分析

火灾中人员的疏散行为是一个极为复杂的过程,受到众多外界刺激的干扰。通过对某真实火灾监控视频中人员疏散行为的统计分析,还原了火灾现场部分人员从发现火灾、观望等待、准备撤离到安全疏散全过程的心理状态,以及疏散过程中典型外界刺激对人员疏散心理状态的改变,提出火灾中听觉刺激对人员产生的心理冲击最为强烈,直接影响了人员疏散行为的实施。疏散过程中样本人群还表现出典型的羊群效应。     

重载铁路隧道可燃物极大丰富条件下火灾温度场数值模拟

针对重载铁路隧道内重载列车运载大量可燃物贯穿整条隧道的情况,建立了500m双线重载铁路隧道模型,利用大涡模拟技术,采用数值模拟的方法探讨了可燃物极大丰富条件下重载铁路隧道内,不同初始火源功率、起火位置下可燃物(红松木)火灾蔓延规律,进而分析了重载列车起火后隧道内火灾沿纵向、横向的温度分布特点、变化规律及后果影响。结果表明:重载铁路隧道内重载列车一旦发生火灾,不同起火位置对火灾向周围的蔓延速度有着明显的影响,而当火灾发生大面积蔓延时,由于隧道内通风量受限,将最终形成两侧隧道口附近燃烧剧烈,而中部较长区域燃烧受到显著抑制的特点。这也导致了隧道内拱顶附近处的最高温度位置由初始火源正上方,沿纵向逐渐向隧道洞口移动,并最终稳定在两侧隧道口附近,同时隧道中部温度也发生大幅度降低,这种温度分布特征对隧道衬砌结构损伤及破坏将产生重要影响。