News Archive

GexCon news Check the most recent events in GexCon. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Currently going on at GexCon (September 2007): FLACS Industry Seminar In cooperation with Gaz de France GexCon is glad to invite you to an industry seminar in St. Denis, Paris, on November 15, 2007. More information Handouts available GexCon opens new branch office in Sweden Due to increased demand for GexCon's services in Sweden, a new GexCon office has been established in Stockholm. The office is to be led by Per Johnsson who holds an MSc. in mechanical engineering. Per has long experience within the field of explosion risk. He has worked with explosion safety for both industry and authorities. GexCon intends to increase the staff at the Stockholm office and is at present seeking skilled persons with interest in explosion safety. New Marketing Director GexCon AS is pleased to announce that Kees van Wingerden (51) will start as new Marketing Director for GexCon AS. Kees' long experience covering many aspects within the field of explosion safety during the last 30 years will strengthen GexCon considerably. From his new position he will contribute to the development of new business and to help GexCon meets its strategic marketing targets. Kees relocates with his wife to Bergen and will start work at GexCon on the 1st of March this year. New company profile GexCon AS has implemented a new company profile as of 1st of September 2006. The new profile is a major step in the process of merging CMR, its departments and subsidiaries into a dynamic and more competitive organisation. The CMR-Group has been organised into 5 departments, comprising of CMR (administration), CMR Computing, CMR Instrumentation, CMR Gexcon and CMR Prototech. The departments will share top-level administration and services and of course company profile. The profile has been developed to portray the departments as a unity, and emphasise CMR's ability to manage diverse projects and challenges. The departments can be recognised by the following logos: Job opportunities GexCon is currently recruiting CFD-analysts / consultants. More information. Courses FLACS I course: January 15-17, 2007 in Bergen, Norway. For more information / registration contact Olav Roald Hansen. Conferences Software New FLACS version 8.1 out now! Gas Explosion Handbook As part of GexCon's contribution to the EU-project S2S - A Gateway for Plant and Process Safety, GexCon have now made the entire Gas Explosion Handbook accessible on their web site. S2S is a project dedicated to improving coordination of a number of separate efforts on improving safety particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME's). Making the Handbook available in its entirety is one step in this direction. You can enter the HTML version of Gas Explosion Handbook HERE. Newsletter Issue 8, fall 2006 Editorials New GexCon Profile FLACS Porting Project Training Courses DESC Status Dispersion Activities FLACS-HYDROGEN GexCon Consulting Services FLACS Users Group (FLUG) Articles On offshore.no - "Best når det smeller" written by Torgeir Hågøy (in norwegian only). On ATEX directives in Teknisk ukeblad - "Uforberedt på eksplosjonsdirektiver" written by Øystein Larsen (in norwegian only). Projects Ongoing projects in the gas explosion consultancy activity Development of a CFD code for prediction of the Potential Consequences of Dust Explosions in Complex Geometries (DESC) Project on transformer explosion safety (SEBK) FLIE project (Flashing Liquids in Industrial Environments) Simulations of LNG releases with FLACS Testing dust explosion properties Mr. Øystein Larsen, Managing Director Phone no: +47 55 57 42 29 Email: oysteinl@gexcon.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FLACS v8.1 is now available A new version of FLACS has now been issued. Important improvements include: enhanced atmospheric dispersion modelling and validation better precision modelling hydrogen explosions LNG-pool evaporation model improved models for flammability limits (inert, T, P) pressurized vessel burst -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Development of a CFD code for prediction of the Potential Consequences of Dust Explosions in Complex Geometries - DESC During the period 2002-2004 GexCon will together with 11 participants develop a CFD code that can predict the consequences and describe the behaviour of a dust explosion in real plant designs. The project is a joint EC project between contractors from industries, authorities, universities and research institutions in six different countries. The work includes both experimental and theoretical work, which would be implemented in the existing FLACS simulator used for calculating effects from gas explosions. The result will be a commercial CFD package available early 2005. Back to the news list For more information please contact: Mr. Øystein Larsen Phone no: +47 55 57 42 29 Email: oysteinl@gexcon.com Mr. Olav Roald Hansen Phone no: +47 55 57 43 18 Email: olav@gexcon.com Illustration of the CFD code -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flashing Liquids in Industrial Environments (FLIE project) A wide range of industrial processes operate at high pressures such that the process fluids are in a supercritical state with respect to the ambient surroundings. Hazardous situations can occur in the case of accidental release caused by equipment or operator failure. In particular if the released substances are flammable, a combustible gas cloud can be created and lead to an explosion or a fire. The FLIE project will focus on an understanding of the source processes, with emphasis on flashing release of flammable pressurized liquids. The objective of the FLIE project is to develop models of flashing release conditions as encountered in realistic industrial environments. Equivalent source models exist for flashing release in current long-range dispersion models. Several factors can, however, invalidate simplified or equivalent source models, especially in the very near field where the risk for creation of flammable atmospheres is the greatest. The development of improved models will be achieved by a concerted action. The direct industrial application of the research is the operation and design of safe industrial plants dealing with flammable and/or toxic gases due to improved prediction capabilities, and thus lead to improved safety design of industrial plants and reduce the possible consequences both for human lives (casualties) and investment, if an accident occurs. See the FLIE web site for further details. Back to the news list For more information please contact: Mr. Idar Storvik Phone no: +47 55 57 43 14 Email: idar@gexcon.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Simulations of LNG releases with FLACS Accidental releases of LNG may lead to formation of large flammable clouds e.g. within nearby process areas. FLACS can be used to simulate evaporation from a LNG pool and the following dispersion. This has been done for release of LNG from a tank, subsequently forming a pool in a dike. In this study the effect of pool size and wind conditions are investigated. The effect of different mitigation measures are also simulated, indicating that a substantial reduction of the flammable cloud may be achieved. A paper describing this can be found here. Back to the news list For more information please contact: Mr. Jan Roar Bakke Phone no: +47 55 57 42 06 Email: jrb@gexcon.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Testing dust explosion properties GexCon experiences a strong increase of testing of dust explosion properties. This increase can be attributed to the new EU legislation demanding both manufacturers of equipment for use in potentially explosive atmosphere and users (industry) to perform explosion safety risk assessments (Directives 94/9/EC and 99/92/EC). Back to the news list For more information please contact: Mr. Øystein Larsen Phone no: +47 55 57 42 29 Email: oysteinl@gexcon.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Extract of the current list of projects in the gas explosion consultancy activity Gas explosion consultancy is one of the major activities in GexCon. An extract of ongoing projects in this field of activity is presented in the table below. Client Installation Description Statoil Sleipner B (offshore platform) Explosion risk analysis Technip/Total AKPO (FPSO) Explosion risk and exhaust gas analyses Statoil Kollsnes (onshore gas treatment plant) Explosion risk analyses Diamond Drilling Ocean Vanguard (drilling platform) Explosion risk analysis in shale shaker room Back to the news list For more information please contact: Dr. Jan Roar Bakke Phone no: +47 55 57 42 06 Email: jrb@gexcon.com