UKELG 50th ANNIVERSARY MEETING

RECENT DELOPMENTS IN AREA

CLASSIFICATION FOR GASES
ROGER SANTON, HEALTH & SAFETY LABORATORY, BUXTON

www.hsl.gov.uk
www.hsl.gov.uk
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Agency
of theof
Health
and Safety
Executive
Agency
the Health
and
Safety Executive

CONTENTS

Current standards
Previous work on gases
QUADVENT
Natural ventilation estimation
Constraints
Examples
Demonstration
Future developments
References

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CURRENT STANDARDS

BS EN 60079-10-1:2009, Electrical apparatus

for explosive gas atmospheres Part 10:
Classification of hazardous areas.
Area classification code for installations
handling flammable fluids, Model Code of safe
practice, IP 15 3rd edition, The Energy
Institute, 2005.
IGEM/SR/25, Edition 2, Hazardous area
classification of natural gas installations,
Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers,
2010.

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CURRENT STANDARDS

BS EN 60079-10-1:2009, Electrical

apparatus for explosive gas

atmospheres Part 10: Classification of
hazardous areas.
Zone definitions
Source terms
Vz

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CURRENT STANDARDS

Vz
Hypothetical gas cloud volume
Mean concentration of 50% LEL (for secondary
releases)
Determines level of ventilation
If Vz is less than 0.1m3, ventilation is regarded as
high and zone is classified Negligible Extent (NE)
and no precautions against ignition are required.
Equations for the calculation of Vz are included in
BS EN 60079-10-1:2009

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GASES

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Gases

Vz estimated from BS EN 60079-10-1

found to be 100 to 3000 times larger

than values obtained from CFD
Reported at Hazards XIX (Gant et al)

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GASES

Vz from BS EN is 2 3 orders of
magnitude larger
In every case Vz from CFD is less
than 0.1m3
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GASES

BS EN 60079-10-1 calculation is based

on premise that ratios:
Actual ventilation rate / Ventilation rate
required to dilute gas escape to
specified level
And
Enclosure volume / Vz

Are equal.
This has no scientific basis.
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GASES

2006
Steel works sorted
Natural gas industry subject to DSEAR
Unable to comply with their own code IGEM/SR/25
No lower pressure limit for zone 2

Unable to justify application of NE zoning

Unable to reach agreement with HSE on
threshold for zoning low pressure installations
BS EN 60079-10-1 methodology in doubt

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GASES

Natural Gas - Joint Industry Project

2006-2007

HSL report RR630 and Hazards XXI paper

IGEM/SR/25 revised to include Zone 2

NE, published 2010

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OTHER GASES

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OTHER GASES

QUADVENT
Based on an integral gas jet model
Well established scientific credibility
Full mathematical derivation published
2011, (Webber et al)

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QUADVENT

Unchoked flow will result if:

P
Pa

1.9

where P is the gas storage pressure and

Pa is atmospheric pressure.

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QUADVENT

When the flow is choked (sonic) it is

necessary to define a pseudo source

hole radius rs, where ro is the orifice
radius
P

rs r0 1 0.5
1.9
Pa

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QUADVENT
Vz =

9 r
16

3
s

3/ 2

1 xb

x crit xb

b (kg/m3) is the density of the background (which normally

approximates to that of air)
s (kg/m3) is the density of the source gas
is the entrainment coefficient (recommended value 0.05)
xb (v/v) is the background concentration
xcrit (v/v) is the concentration of interest (50% LEL for
secondary releases)

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QUADVENT
The background concentration of flammable gas
xb in the enclosure is
xb

qs
q1

q1 (m3/s) is the ventilation rate

qs (m3/s) is the source gas volume flowrate
is the efficiency of background mixing (see below).
The leak rate qs can be derived from standard methods for the
estimation of leak flowrates. Appropriate methods are included in
BS EN 60079-10-1:2009, Annex A.

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QUADVENT
Outdoors there is zero background
concentration, xb=0, and the background
density is that of pure air
9 r
VZ
16

3
s

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3/ 2

xcrit

QUADVENT

The axial distance z to a concentration xzone may be

derived as an approximation to the zone extent. An
appropriate value of xzone should be chosen. BS EN
60079-10-1 uses 100% LEL for example.

rs 1 x zone
z
x zone xb

s
2
b
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VALIDATION

Quadvent has been validated against detailed CFD

simulations which themselves have been validated
against experimental data.
The validation data includes simulations of a range of
flammable gas release rates in enclosures of various
sizes at a range of different ventilation rates.
All of the simulations are for unobstructed releases of
methane in a ventilation controlled chamber.
The agreement between the QUADVENT model and
the CFD simulations is surprisingly good considering
how simple the QUADVENT calculation is.

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VALIDATION

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ENCLOSURE VENTILATION

The ventilation rate of an enclosure is a key

input to an area classification assessment.
Forced ventilation rates can be established
from design or equipment specifications.
The natural ventilation rate will vary through
time as it is strongly influenced by the weather
conditions. Simple approaches for the
estimation of ventilation rates, suitable for use
as part of HAC methodologies, are therefore
required.

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ENCLOSURE VENTILATION

BS5925:1991 contains methods for very

simple enclosures
A spreadsheet containing a simple model of
wind and buoyancy driven ventilation is
available from the Chartered Institution of
Building Services Engineers (CIBSE)
COMIS or CONTAM multizone models
Experimental measurements, or CFD
simulations
Quadvent contains an estimation method

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QUADVENT CONSTRAINTS

Hole size
Local congestion and confinement
Ventilation efficiency factor

Safety factor
Sub-chambers
Pressure
Vz value for small enclosures
Availability of ventilation
Background concentration
Validation limited to methane

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QUADVENT CONSTRAINTS

Hole size
Vz is a function of the cube of the hole
radius
Vz must not be under-estimated
Minimum of 0.25mm2 is recommended
(except under specified circumstances)
Further guidance in Cox Lees and Ang

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QUADVENT CONSTRAINTS

Congestion and confinement

Guidance in IGEM/SR/25 Appendix 6
Efficiency of mixing
= 1 represents an unobstructed release
= represents a moderate degree of
obstruction
= represents a significant obstruction to the
ventilation flow

Over 100 m3 verify local ventilation

effectiveness with smoke tests etc.

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QUADVENT CONSTRAINTS

Safety factor
To allow for uncertainty
Apply a factor of 2 to estimated ventilation rate
or
Ensure hole size is conservative

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QUADVENT CONSTRAINTS

Sub chambers
Compute Vz for the volume of the sub-chamber with
reduced ventilation rate
or
Set Vz to sub-chamber volume

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QUADVENT CONSTRAINTS

Pressure
Limit NE zones to systems at less than 10 barg
Limit to 20 barg based on risk assessment taking
the consequences of ignition, i.e. the risk of injury,
into account

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QUADVENT CONSTRAINTS

Vz size criterion
For enclosure volumes of less than 10m 3
the criterion of 0.1 m3 for Vz should be
reduced to 1% of the enclosure volume.
This constraint is taken from BS EN 6007910-1:2009

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QUADVENT CONSTRAINTS

Ventilation availability
The guidance in BS EN 60079-10-1:2009
should be observed
NE zones not allowed if availability is poor

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QUADVENT CONSTRAINTS

Background concentration
Suggested limit 25% LEL
Under consideration for inclusion in
software
Manual check

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QUADVENT CONSTRAINTS

Validation
Whilst this methodology is valid for all
gases, it should be noted that the validation
of the criterion of 0.1 m3 for the value of Vz
leading to an NE classification has only
been carried out for natural gas.

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QUADVENT EXAMPLES

Outdoor butane gas pipework, secondary

releases
P = 4.5 bara
Hole size = 0.25mm2
Vz, m3

Zone

BS EN 60079- 0.63
10-1:2009

Zone 2

QUADVENT

Zone 2 NE

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0.0021

QUADVENT EXAMPLES

Natural gas plant room

P = 76 mbarg
Hole size = 2.5mm2
BS EN
60079-101:2009

Vz m3

Zone

183

Zone 2

IGEM/SR/25 N/A

Zone 2 NE

QUADVENT 0.025

Zone 2 NE

EI 15

Zone 1

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N/A

DEMONSTRATION

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CONCLUSIONS

BS EN 60079-10-1:2009
Arbitrary results
No scientific foundation
Vz up to 3 orders of magnitude too high

QUADVENT
Scientific basis
Often reduces zoning requirements
Capital and maintenance costs of protected
equipment can be restricted to genuine risks
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FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS UNDER

CONSIDERATION

Software now available for gases (See

leaflet)

Flashing liquids (LPG, Ammonia) (Project

in progress)

Plumes
Impingement
Liquid pools
Gas mixtures
Mist (JIP in progress)
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REFERENCES

BS EN 60079-10-1:2009, Electrical apparatus for

explosive gas atmospheres Part 10: Classification of
hazardous areas.
Area classification code for installations handling
flammable fluids, Model Code of safe practice, IP 15
3rd edition, The Energy Institute, 2005.
Cox, A.W., Lees, F. P. and Ang, M. L., Classification of
Hazardous Locations, I Chem E, 1990.
Area classification for secondary releases from low
pressure natural gas systems, HSL Research Report
RR630.

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REFERENCES 2

Ventilation theory and dispersion modelling applied to hazardous

area classification, D.M. Webber, M.J. Ivings and R.C. Santon,
Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 24 (5)
September 2011, 612-621
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j/jlp.2011.04.002
Gant, S.E., Ivings, M.J., Jones, A., and Santon, R., Hazardous
Area Classification of Low Pressure Natural Gas Systems using
CFD Predictions. Hazards XIX, Manchester, 2006
New Methods for Hazardous Area Classification for Explosive
Gas Atmospheres, R.C. Santon, M.J.Ivings, D.M. Webber and A
Kelsey, Hazards XXIII, Southport 2012

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Mat Ivings - HSL

David Webber - HSL
Adrian Kelsey- HSL
HSE
HSL

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