The siting of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities requires several types of hazards to be quantified so that the risk to the public and public property in areas surrounding each facility can be properly assessed. In order to quantify the hazards from potential accident scenarios, computational tools must be used. Given the multiplicity of tools available, ranging from empirical models to 3D computational fluid dynamics packages, the agency responsible for reviewing the hazard analysis may not have the methodologies or protocols necessary to determine the suitability of a given model to a certain scenario, its accuracy, and any other setup requirements. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) commissioned Blue Engineering and Consulting and the Gas Technology Institute to develop a set of model evaluation protocols (MEPs) that will allow the review of modeling tools for several different hazards, including flammable and toxic dispersion, source terms for dispersion models, vapor cloud explosions, and boiling liquid expanding vapor explosions (BLEVEs). The project will provide PHMSA with the means to properly evaluate modeling tools for these hazards, which are required to be evaluated in an LNG facility siting study. It will also provide clarity to LNG plant developers and their safety consultants on which models may be used and which safety factors need to be applied, and will increase the public's confidence in the regulatory review process of LNG facilities. This article discusses the first two MEPs completed as part of this project, which are focused on evaluating flammable dispersion and toxic dispersion models, respectively. This article describes the evaluation methodology, including the information to be submitted by the model proponents and the review process, and the model validation databases compiled for each protocol.

中文翻译：

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易燃和有毒分散模型的评估协议

液化天然气 (LNG) 设施的选址需要量化几种类型的危害，以便正确评估每个设施周围区域对公众和公共财产的风险。为了量化潜在事故场景的危害，必须使用计算工具。鉴于可用工具的多样性，从经验模型到 3D 计算流体动力学软件包，负责审查危害分析的机构可能没有必要的方法或协议来确定给定模型对特定场景的适用性、其准确性、以及任何其他设置要求。管道和危险材料安全管理局 (PHMSA) 委托 Blue Engineering and Consulting 和气体技术研究所开发了一套模型评估协议 (MEP)，允许审查针对几种不同危害的建模工具，包括易燃和有毒扩散，扩散模型、蒸汽云爆炸和沸腾液体膨胀蒸汽爆炸 (BLEVE) 的源项。该项目将为 PHMSA 提供适当评估这些危害的建模工具的方法，这些危害需要在 LNG 设施选址研究中进行评估。它还将使 LNG 工厂开发商及其安全顾问清楚地了解哪些模型可以使用以及需要应用哪些安全因素，并将增加公众对 LNG 设施监管审查过程的信心。本文讨论了作为该项目一部分完成的前两个 MEP，它们分别侧重于评估易燃扩散和有毒扩散模型。本文描述了评估方法，包括模型支持者提交的信息和审查过程，以及为每个协议编译的模型验证数据库。