Ricerc@Sapienza

Over the last years, several regulations have been used to rule the dy- namics of the transport of dangerous substances. As a consequence, a number of regulations concerning the international railway transport of dangerous goods impacted on rail transport; Regulation 1907/2006 and Regulation 1272/2008 in- creased Toxicological information assets and tools that can be addressed in the event of a health emergency. The purpose of this study is to analyze dispersion scenarios to describe the consequences of an intentional release of propane, bu- tane or chlorine.

A simplified mathematical model representing the dynamic response of a tank containing a pressurized liquefied gas exposed to an external heat source, is presented. This scenario is of great practical interest in the process industry because it can result in the catastrophic failure of the tank with the explosive vaporization of the stored material (Boiling-Liquid Expanding-Vapour Explosion, BLEVE).

The catastrophic failure of a tank containing a pressure liquefied gas often gives rise to a physical explosion with serious consequences for the possibly exposed people and structures. In fact, the liquid is at a temperature higher than its boiling temperature at atmospheric pressure, and, once released, it will instantaneously vaporize, with the generation of a shock wave.

In the present paper a statistical analysis of accidents data on hazardous materials pipeline failures has been
carried out to identify the most common causes and consequences of release and to derive the distribution of
their probability of occurrence as a function of a number of parameters. The analysis has included three classes
of materials among those most commonly transported via pipeline (crude oil, natural gas and oil refined products):
differences and similarities have been highlighted and, where possible, explained. Particular attention

The transportation of hazardous materials via pipelines is often considered a safer alternative to other transportation modalities such as railway, road and ship. However, pipelines often cross industrial and highly populated areas, so that their failure can pose a significant risk to the surrounding environment and the exposed population: the possible release of flammable and/or toxic materials in such areas can generate catastrophic events with very severe consequences.