Events and Consequences Modelling

- CFD: Concept and Applications-

Centre for Risk, Integrity, and Safety Engineering (C-RISE)

Course instructor:
Dr. Mohammed Taleb-Berrouane | PhD in Process Safety Engineering

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What is CFD?

(Salisbury et al., 2012)

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What is CFD?

• CFD is the study of fluid flow using numerical

simulations
• CFD can handle complex flow and heat industrial
problems
• Dedicated to fluid in motion “dynamics”
• Fundamentally based on governing equations of fluid
dynamics

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Current Applications of CFD
• Aerospace engineering: airplanes, rocket engines
• Automotive engineering: reducing drag coefficients for
cars and trucks, improving air intake in engines
• Chemical engineering: fluid flow through pumps and
pipelines
• Civil and Environmental engineering: river restoration,
pollutant dispersion
• Power Engineering: improving turbine efficiency, wind
farm siting and performance prediction
• Sports Engineering: swimming equipment, golf swing
mechanics, reducing drag in biking.

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 Advantages of CFD?

• The three basic approaches to solve problems in fluid

dynamics and heat transfer.

(Salisbury et al., 2012)

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 Advantages of CFD?

• Provides an alternative cost-effective means of simulating

real fluid flows.
• Offers the ability to solve a range of complicated flow
problems where the analytical approach is lacking.
• Simulates flow conditions that are not reproducible in
experimental tests such as nuclear accident scenarios or
scenarios that are too huge or too remote to be simulated
experimentally.
• Provides visualization and comprehensive information
when compared to analytical and experimental studies.

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Governing equations

• Conservation laws in physics:

1. Conservation of mass.
2. Newton’s second law: The rate of change of
momentum equals the sum of forces acting on the
fluid.
3. First law of thermodynamics: The rate of change of
energy equals the sum of the rate of heat addition to
the fluid and the rate of work done on the fluid.

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How CFD code works?

• The CFD codes provide a complete CFD analysis,

consisting of three main elements:

• Pre-processor
• Solver
• Post-processor

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The interconnectivity functions of the three main elements
within a CFD analysis framework (Zhang et al., 2012)
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 Steps to Master CFD Modelling!

• Step 1: Basics of Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer

• Step 2: Fundamentals of Computational Fluid Dynamics
• Step 3: Learning commercial software(s) used in industry
• Step 4: Working on some industrial projects

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 Limitations of CFD

• Differences between computed results and reality always

exist.
• There is a danger that an erroneous solution, which may
look good, will not correspond to the expected
flow behavior.
• Any numerical results obtained must always be
thoroughly examined before they are believed.
• CFD user needs to learn how to properly analyze and
make critical judgments about the computed results.

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CFD applications in Safety Analysis

The common method of estimating the overpressure caused by an

explosion (Multi-Energy method and TNT-Equivalence method)
assume that the blast generated is similar in all directions with no
directional effects. However, these methods do not take into
account factors such as:
Directional effects
Focusing effects
Reflection effects
Factors related to the source of the explosion (e.g. initial
strength, shape)
Thus, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling has been
introduced to allow for the better predictions of the strength of blast
waves generated by gaseous explosions.

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CFD applications in Safety Analysis

Example of CFD application to plume dispersion from cooling towers

(https://synergetics.com.au/cfd)

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FDS: Fire Dynamics Simulator

• FDS is a software that uses CFD principles to solve

equations that describe the evolution of fire.
• FDS computes a numerical solution to the governing
equations, and writes user-specified output data to files.
• Smokeview is a companion program that reads FDS
output files and produces animations.

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Case study: FDS Modelling of Pool fire
• In an FLNG facility, the formation of pool fire occurs
mainly due to leaks in LNG storage, liquefaction module
and pipe networks
• Scenario: Untreated gas is released under pressure
from a joint with 100 mm hole and the gas is ignited due
to nearby operating pump or motor.

(Baalisampa
ng et al.,
2017)

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Case study: FDS Modelling of Pool fire

Sample of the FDS modelling outputs

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Case study: FDS Modelling of Pool fire

(Dadashzadeh
et al., 2013)
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Case study: FDS Modelling of Pool fire

• https://www.nist.gov/video/nist-
fire-dynamics-simulator-2016

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 Real industrial case in
Ammonia Plant in 2014
• Abnormally heated spots in one of the
main boilers.

• If left without correction, it represents a

high risk of boiler explosion

• The problem could not be identified by

the conventional methods

• Opening the boiler for inspection is very

costly and time consuming

(Zhang et al., 2010)

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Useful Links

• CFD codes:
www.cfd-online. com/Links/soft.htm/
http://energy. concord.org/energy2d/index.html

• FDS guide:
https://pages.nist.gov/fds-smv/manuals.html

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Useful Books

• Jayanti, S. (2017). Computational Fluid

Dynamics for Engineers and Scientists.
Springer.

• Tu, Jiyuan, Guan-Heng Yeoh, and

Chaoqun Liu. Computational Fluid
Dynamics: A Practical Approach.
Butterworth-Heinemann, 2012.

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Useful Software

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Useful Software

• FDS:
https://pages.nist.gov/fds-smv/

• Pyrosim:
https://www.thunderheadeng.com/pyrosim/download/

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Useful papers

• Baalisampang, T., Abbassi, R., Garaniya, V., Khan, F., &

Dadashzadeh, M. (2017). Fire impact assessment in FLNG
processing facilities using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Fire
Safety Journal, 92, 42-52.
• Mahaffy, J., Chung, B., Song, C., Dubois, F., Graffard, E., Ducros, F.,
... & Moretti, F. (2007). Best practice guidelines for the use of CFD in
nuclear reactor safety applications (No. NEA-CSNI-R--2007-05).
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development.
• Sathiah, P., Komen, E., & Roekaerts, D. (2012). The role of CFD
combustion modeling in hydrogen safety management—Part I:
Validation based on small scale experiments. Nuclear Engineering
and Design, 248, 93-107.

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Useful media

• https://www.nist.gov/video/nist-
fire-dynamics-simulator-2016

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 References used in the lecture note
• Tu, Jiyuan, Guan-Heng Yeoh, and Chaoqun Liu. Computational Fluid
Dynamics: A Practical Approach. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2012.

• Zhang, Nan, Bona Lu, Wei Wang, and Jinghai Li. "3D CFD simulation
of hydrodynamics of a 150 MWe circulating fluidized bed
boiler." Chemical Engineering Journal 162, no. 2 (2010): 821-828.

• Dadashzadeh, M., Abbassi, R., Khan, F., & Hawboldt, K. (2013).

Explosion modeling and analysis of BP Deepwater Horizon
accident. Safety science, 57, 150-160.

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Next lecture

 Pyrosim Tutorial

 Deadline for the Term project outline: May 25

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