Predicting blast overpressures caused by vapor cloud explosions in the vicinity of control rooms

When considering the consequences of gas explosions in petro‐chemical installutions simple methods are used such as TNT‐equivalenc methods and the Multi‐Energy method. These methods howewr, do not take into account directional effects, focusing effects, factors related to the source of the explosion (initial strength, shape) and reflections. FLACS, a 3‐D CFD tool, allows for all factors mentioned including focusing on effects and reflections near buildings. A comparison of the CFD‐method including the two traditional prediction methods for a practical case demonstrates the application areas of the FLACS method as well as the limitations of the traditional methods.