New Visualisation Software For Process Industry Hazard Analysis

The latest release of DNV GL’s Phast software for process industry hazard analysis has new features that will increase efficiency, improve the understanding and communication of results and support rapid decision-making. These features include enhanced visualisation and a more flexible selection of default explosion models.

Process industries face potential hazards that can harm life, property and the environment. Phast software is used to analyse these hazards so that their consequences can be managed or reduced by improving the design of the process or plant, modifying existing operational procedures or implementing other mitigation measures.

QRA software supporting rapid decisions
“The improved visualisation in Phast 7.11 will allow results to be viewed and understood more effectively, leading to better and more rapid decision-making,” says Nic Cavanagh, Director of Operations, Process Safety, Risk and Reliability at DNV GL – Software. “The new default explosion model means that results will typically be more accurate, with more conservative predictions, particularly as you move further away from potential sources of explosion hazards.”

Early feedback from DNV GL customers who have seen these new features at user conferences is extremely positive, particularly regarding the improved result-visualisation capabilities.

With the new release of Phast, you can:

• View flame shapes in radiation contour graphs
• Insert a side view image
• View the bund and release direction in the context of predicted hazard ranges
• Apply new default models with options for using the Multi Energy explosion model

Phast also has an optional 3D Explosions module that allows users to conduct an even more realistic and detailed evaluation of explosion hazards. The latest release, Phast 7.11, provides enhanced functionality for this module, including improved calculations and new model scenarios.

“With our new release of Phast, we”ve taken another step towards realizing our vision of porting our entire suite of QRA software products to the next-generation architecture by 2015,” says DNV GL – Software Managing Director Are Føllesdal Tjønn. “Going forward, we”ll add new features and extensions to the entire suite of products and benefit from the economies of scale of a single software architecture,” he says.