Explosion analyzer

Figure 11 A commercial configuration of high speed GC-DMS is the EGIS Defender, which is a successor of the EGIS and EGIS II explosives analyzers.

Fig. 17. A commercial configuration of high-speed gas chromatography-differential mobility spectrometry (GC-DMS) is the Defender (flow schematic top left, instrument top right), which is a successor of the EGIS and EGIS II explosives analyzers. Calibration curve of trinitrotoluene (TNT) (bottom left) and ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN) (bottom right) (signal vs. mass in...

FIGURE 12.2 Three of the older explosive detection devices the VaporTracer, a handheld explosive analyzer (made by GE Interlogix) (top) portable explosive analyzers the Itemiser made by GE Interlogix (middle) and the lONSCAN made by Smiths Detection (bottom from http //www.smithsdetection.com). 

To find explosives Gas analyzers, chromatography instruments, drift-spectrometers, neutron defectosopes, nuclear-magnetic and nuclear-quadrupole resonant instruments... 

Cyclic Peroxides. CycHc diperoxides (4) and triperoxides (5) are soHds and the low molecular weight compounds are shock-sensitive and explosive (151). The melting points of some characteristic compounds of this type are given in Table 5. They can be reduced to carbonyl compounds and alcohols with zinc and alkaH, zinc and acetic acid, aluminum amalgam, Grignard reagents, and warm acidified iodides (44,122). They are more difficult to analyze by titration with acidified iodides than the acycHc peroxides and have been sucessfuUy analyzed by gas chromatography (112). 

The comparisons with experimental distributions would be incomplete without examining some exploding munitions data. Data of this type have been published by Mock and Holt (1983) in which explosive-filled cylinders of armco iron and several heat-treated steels were detonated, and the fragments collected and analyzed. A cumulative number distribution from one of the heat-treated steel experiments is shown in Fig. 8.33. The trend of the data in this example is typical of the six experiments performed by them. 

The following case study illustrates the use of SCREEN. In this example we analyze a fire incident that occurred at a wood preserving facility. The incident involved a fire and explosion of six cylindrical vessels containing creosote and pentachlorophenol. Refer to Figure 15. 

A PHA analyzes potential eauses and eonsequenees of fires, explosions, releases of toxie or flammable ehemieals, and major spills of hazardous ehemieals. The PHA foeuses on equipment, instrumentation, utilities, human aetions (routine and nonroutine), and external faetors that might affeet the proeess. 

J H Marsh and McLendon (M M, 1997), every five years, reviews and analyzes the 100 largest properly damage losses in the hydrocarbon- chemical industries that occurred over the previous 30 years. Most of the losses involved fires or explosions, flood, windstorm, and pressure rupture losses. 

EXP AC analyzes an interconnected network of building rooms and ventilation systems. A lumped-parameter formulation is used that includes the effects of inertial and choking flow in rapid gas transienl.s. The latest version is specifically suited to calculation of the detailed effects of explosions in the far field using a parametric representation of the explosive event. A material transport capability models the effects of convection, depletion, entrainment, and filtration of... 

Gregory, W. S. and B. D. Nichols, 1991, EXPAC User s Manual A Computer Code for Analyzing Explosion-Induced Flow and Material Transport in Nuclear Facilities, LA-1 1823-M, LANE, July. 

In the earliest applications of numerical methods for the computation of blast waves, the burst of a pressurized sphere was computed. As the sphere s diameter is reduced and its initial pressure increased, the problem more closely approaches a point-source explosion problem. Brode (1955,1959) used the Lagrangean artificial-viscosity approach, which was the state of the art of that time. He analyzed blasts produced by both aforementioned sources. The decaying blast wave was simulated, and blast wave properties were registered as a function of distance. The code reproduced experimentally observed phenomena, such as overexpansion, subsequent recompression, and the formation of a secondary wave. It was found that the shape of the blast wave at some distance was independent of source properties. 

A similar technique was used by Oppenheim et al. (1977) to analyze the blast waves produced by some gas explosions of a different nature ... 

The conclusions of Guirao et al. (1979) were fully in line with an earlier paper by Fishbum (1976). Fishbum (1976) analyzed the effectiveness of blast generation for several different designs for a fuel-air explosion ... 

Brasie and Simpson (1968) use the Kingery and Pannill (1964) TNT blast data to represent blast parameter distributions, and the US Atomic Energy Commission s recommendations (Glasstone 1962) for the attendant structural damage. Brasie and Simpson (1968) base their recommendation for the TNT equivalency of vapor clouds on the damage observed in three chemical-plant explosion incidents. Analyzing the... 

The Flixborough explosion was analyzed on the basis of damage figures presented by Munday and Cave (1975). Assuming a 60,000 kg cyclohexane release, they found a TNT equivalency of 7.8% on the basis of energy, which corresponds with a mass equivalency of 81.7%. These equivalences were calculated on the basis of the full quantity of material released. 

Baker (1978b) analyzed 25 accidental vessel explosions for mass and range distribution and fragment shape. This statistical analysis is considered the most complete in the open literature. Because data on most of the 25 events considered in the analysis were limited, it was necessary to group like events into six groups in order to yield an adequate base for useful statistical analysis. 

This case study concerns the events leading up to the hydrocarbon explosion which was the starting point for the Piper Alpha offshore disaster. It describes the investigation of the incident using the sequentially timed events plotting (STEP) technique. Based on the STEP work sheet developed, the critical events involved in the incident are identified and analyzed in order to identify their root causes. 

This study investigated risks to the public from serious accidents which could occur at the industrial facilities in this part of Essex, U.K. Results are expressed as risk to an individual and societal risk from both existing and proposed installations. Risk indices were also determined for modified versions of the facilities to quantify the risk reduction from recommendations in the report. Nine industrial plants were analyzed along with hazardous material transport by water, road, rail and pipeline. The potential toxic, fire and explosion hazards were assessed for flammable liquids, ammonia, LPG, LNG, and hydrogen fluoride (HE). The 24 appendices to the report cover various aspects of the risk analysis. These include causes and effects of unconfined... 

The use of more seleetive deteetors for SFE-GC, sueh as a thermo-energy analyzer for the deteetion of explosives (34) and a two-ehannel optieal deviee for the... 

Hetman (Ref 102) describes polarographic methods for analyzing explosives (including PETN)... 

The NO + 03 chemiluminescent reaction [Reactions (1-3)] is utilized in two commercially available GC detectors, the TEA detector, manufactured by Thermal Electric Corporation (Saddle Brook, NJ), and two nitrogen-selective detectors, manufactured by Thermal Electric Corporation and Antek Instruments, respectively. The TEA detector provides a highly sensitive and selective means of analyzing samples for A-nitrosamines, many of which are known carcinogens. These compounds can be found in such diverse matrices as foods, cosmetics, tobacco products, and environmental samples of soil and water. The TEA detector can also be used to quantify nitroaromatics. This class of compounds includes many explosives and various reactive intermediates used in the chemical industry [121]. Several nitroaromatics are known carcinogens, and are found as environmental contaminants. They have been repeatedly identified in organic aerosol particles, formed from the reaction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with atmospheric nitric acid at the particle surface [122-124], The TEA detector is extremely selective, which aids analyses in complex matrices, but also severely limits the number of potential applications for the detector [125-127],... 

When organizations focus on the root causes of worker injuries, it is helpful to analyze the manner in which workplace fatalities occur (see Figure 1-4). Although the emphasis of this book is the prevention of chemical-related accidents, the data in Figure 1-4 show that safety programs need to include training to prevent injuries resulting from transportation, assaults, mechanical and chemical exposures, and fires and explosions. 

The data are collected and analyzed in the same fashion as for the vapor explosion apparatus. The maximum pressure and the maximum rate of pressure increase are determined, as well as the flammability limits. 

Analyze the first ethylene explosion example (3/8-in fitting failure) to determine the percentage of fuel that actually exploded compared to the quantity of ethylene released in a vapor cloud. 

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