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PipeTech is the state of the art Award Winning CFD computer programme for modelling and predicting release rates following the rupture of pressurised pipelines. PipeTech is used by major corporations such as British Petroleum International, Royal Dutch Shell and Government regulatory bodies such as the UK Health and Safety Executive and Health and Safety Laboratory. Pressurised pipelines are frequently used for the transport of large quantities of hydrocarbons. In the case of a typical 150 km , 0.8 m i.d pipeline transporting natural gas at 100 bar from an offshore platform in the North Sea for example, the amount inventory present is 637,000 kg. This represents an enormous source of energy release which in the event of pipeline rupture poses the risks of general and extreme fire exposure to all personnel in open platform areas, and also undermines platform integrity. The Piper Alpha tragedy clearly demonstrated the catastrophic nature of this type of accident. Indeed in recent years, the number of incidents involving accidental release from pipelines have increased at an alarming rate. An average of over 6.3 million gallons of oil and other hazardous liquids are reported released from pipelines each year, more than half the amount released from the Exxon Valdez disaster. According to data published by the US Department of Transport (1997), even short, simple pipelines will have a reportable accident during a 20 year life time. Operators of long pipelines (1000 km or over) can expect a reportable accident at a frequency of 1 per year. In response to such alarming statistic, the US Senate on Commerce, Science and Transportation has set up a special committee to consider implementing legislation to improve pipeline safety. ‘As a priority, pipeline operators are required to act quickly to ensure that pipelines near high consequence areas are free from defects that might result in an accident.’ Central in assessing the consequences associated with such failures is the ability to accurately predict the variation of release rate with time following pipeline rupture. keywords: Pipeline rupture modelling, pipeline rupture,pressurised pipelines, pressurised release,risk assessment,hazard analysis,PipeTechContentsContact
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