During a particular accident, an estimated 39,000 kg of flammable material was released and ignited,

During a particular accident, an estimated
39,000 kg of flammable material was released and ignited, resulting in an
explosion and fireball and the subsequent fatalities and equipment damage. The
publication Guidelines for Evaluating the Characteristics of Vapor Cloud
Explosions, Flash Fires, and BLEVES (New York: American Institute of Chemical
Engineers, 1994) provides a number of equations useful for estimating the
effects of such an explosion. The heat radiation intensity (in kW/m2 ) from a
ball of burning vapor is given by the empirical equation

The height of the center of the

During a particular accident, an estimated
39,000 kg of flammable material was released and ignited, resulting in an
explosion and fireball and the subsequent fatalities and equipment damage. The
publication Guidelines for Evaluating the Characteristics of Vapor Cloud
Explosions, Flash Fires, and BLEVES (New York: American Institute of Chemical
Engineers, 1994) provides a number of equations useful for estimating the
effects of such an explosion. The heat radiation intensity (in kW/m2 ) from a
ball of burning vapor is given by the empirical equation

The height of the center of the fireball
(in meters) is assumed to be constant during the burn and is given by HBLEVE =
0.75Dmax . Finally, the maximum diameter of the fireball (in meters) is given
by For these equations I e is the effective radiation intensity (kW/m2 ), mf is
the mass of fuel (kg), L is the distance from the center of the fireball to the
receptor (m), and te is the effective time duration of the burn (s). Use a
spreadsheet program (such as Quattro Pro or Excel) to estimate the total number
of fatalities resulting from the burning fireball. Use the probit equations
provided in the text. Assume that 400 people are distributed evenly at a
distance of 75 m to 1000 m from the fireball center. Divide the distance
interval into a number of small increments. Use a small enough distance
increment so that the results are essentially independent of the increment
size. Your spreadsheet output should have designated columns for the distance
from the fireball center, radiation intensity, probit values, and percentage
and number of fatalities. You should also have a single designated spreadsheet
cell providing the total number of fatalities. One way to simplify the
procedure is to specify a threshold radiative flux. It is assumed that 100%
fatalities will occur to anyone exposed to anything above this value. Anyone
exposed to a lesser value will be unharmed. Estimate an approximate threshold
radiative flux value that will result in the same number of fatalities as the
detailed probit calculation.