Determining the explosion risk level and the explosion hazard area for a group of natural gas wells

• Published in: IOP conference series. Materials Science and Engineering Vol. 161; no. 1; pp. 12089 - 12094
• Main Authors: Gligor, A, Petrescu, V, Deac, C, Bibu, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.11.2016
• Subjects: CAD; Computer aided design; Electric sparks; Electrostatic discharges; Engineering profession; Explosions; Gas wells; Industrial areas; Natural gas; Risk levels; Software
• ISSN: 1757-8981; 1757-899X
• DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/161/1/012089

Starting from the fact that the natural gas engineering profession is generally associated with a high occupational risk, the current paper aims to help increase the safety of natural gas wells and reduce the risk of work-related accidents, as well as the occurrence of professional illnesses, by applying an assessment method that has proven its efficiency in other industrial areas in combination with a computer-aided design software. More specifically, the paper focuses on two main research directions: assessing the explosion risk for employees working at natural gas wells and indicating areas with a higher explosion hazard by using a modern software that allows their presentation in 3D. The appropriate zoning of industrial areas allows to group the various functional areas function of the probability of the occurrence of a dangerous element, such as an explosive atmosphere and subsequently it allows also to correctly select the electrical and mechanical equipment that will be used in that area, since electrical apparatuses that are otherwise found in normal work environments cannot generally be used in areas with explosion hazard, because of the risk that an electric spark, an electrostatic discharge etc. ignites the explosive atmosphere.