Conclusion

When considering the risk of explosion, different degrees of precision are required in modeling the effects. For some problems, defining a distance to an overpressure threshold will suffice, while for others, full characterization of the overpressure signal will be essential. Today, there are many tools available for dealing with this phenomenon. In practice, two approaches are the most widely used today: the multi-energy method and CFD methods (FLACS in particular).

From a technical point of view, CFD methods perform better overall, since they model physical phenomena more accurately. However, most of today's commercial CFD codes have limitations that can lead, among other things, to an underestimation of the effects of explosions far from the flammable cloud, which is precisely what the multi-energy method is designed to address. In fact, to date, the two methods...