Explosion Hazard Analysis of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Transportation

This paper presents a quantitative risk analysis of liquefied petroleum gas(LPG)transportation.An accident that happened on June 13,2020,on the highway near Wenling,China is studied as a case.In this accident,LPG carried by a tank truck on the highway leaked and caused a large explosion,which led to 20 deaths.Different methods are combined to calculate the consequence of the accident.Multi-energy model and rupture of vessel model are employed to calculate the overpressure;the simulation result of the multi-energy model is closer to the damage caused by the accident.The safety distances in accidents of LPG transport storage tanks of different capacities are calculated in this study;the results show that the damage of explosion will increase with the filling degree of the tank.Even though the filling degree is 90%(value required by law),the 99%fatality rate range will reach 42 m,which is higher than regulated distance between road and building.The social risk of the tank truck has also been calculated and the results show that the risk is not acceptable.The calculating method used in this study could evaluate the risk of LPG tanker more accurately,which may contribute to the establishment of transportation regulation so that losses from similar accidents in the future could be reduced.