Hazards can be an unavoidable situation in any industry, and they can lead to innumerable and severe consequences from damaged equipment and supplies all the way through to the worst of all: loss of life.

At DOCAN, we understand that be able to mitigate hazards such as these is a primary concern for our clients, and that is why we employ dynamic simulation modelling to predict and prevent as many of these hazards.

We use the Abaqus FEA suite of tools of non-linear Finite Element Analysis to model these potential situations. This provides the engineering basis for projectile hazard assessment, safeguard and mitigation design.

Imagine a plug fitted to a high pressure system, like a pipe whip, that becomes loose and releases, but the plug has a sampling line.

Does the sample line tether, and catch the plug and contain its movement, or does the plug become a dangerous projectile that triggers a chain reaction of more dangerous event, such as penetrating another piece of equipment and causing an explosion?

When using Abaqus FEA, we can examine this potential through capturing the transient response of the tether pipework from initial ejection through to load arrest. The video below shows the deformation and how stress (and plastic strain) develops through the sampling line as it takes the fast dynamic load.

Basic stats:
10mm 316 SS tube, plug mass of 3kg, initial velocity of plug 33m/s (or 77mph)
Model shown for first 0.001 seconds.

This model helps us to verify whether the tether in question can arrest the plug, and where it is the most likely to fail and therefore answer a critical consequence assessment to ensure and safeguard the design.