CANARY Hazard Models

CANARY by Quest is remarkably versatile and has hazard models for a wide variety of risk scenarios:

• Fire radiation hazards resulting from:
  • Torch/Jet fires
  • Pool fires
  • Flares
  • BLEVE fireballs
• Explosion overpressure hazards resulting from:
  • Vapor cloud explosions
  • Confined space explosions
• Flammable and toxic vapor cloud hazards resulting from releases of:
  • Pressurized gases
  • Liquefied gases
  • Superheated liquids
  • Subcooled liquids
  • Volatile liquids

Development of hazard models

The base models in CANARY are derived from models in the public domain. Some models, such as DEGADIS and SLAB, can be obtained as source code. Others, such as the fire radiation models, are described in detail in articles published in scientific journals. This ensures the models have been peer reviewed.

Some of the data incorporated into the models are derived from Quest-directed in-house tests in which hazardous fluids were released to the atmosphere. Much of this information is not available in the public domain, but is incorporated into the models in CANARY.

CANARY has been validated against large-scale tests of hazardous fluids sponsored by major government and industry organizations. The dispersion results of these comparisons are presented in the CANARY/Field Data Comparison graphic below.

CANARY has been used in studies that have undergone review by several regulatory authorities. The ability to perform complex thermodynamic analyses of multicomponent fluids and aerosol releases was crucial to the acceptance of the CANARY modeling results.

Validation

Many of the release rate, source term, dispersion, and fire radiation hazard models within CANARY have been independently reviewed. The figure below presents a summary plot of CANARY dispersion model results versus measured field data. The field data sets are taken from a wide range of experiments for refrigerated liquid releases, two-phase aerosol releases, and passive gas releases. As the comparison shows, CANARY provides good agreement with the field data over a wide range of gas concentrations (flammable to trace).