Investigation on the approach of intercepting fragments generated by vessel explosion using barrier net

The barrier net was put between accident source and objective vessel to reduce the probability of target damage due to fragments generated by vessel explosion, and to offset the requirement of safety distance. The fragment trajectory, impact probability of fragment, ruptured probability of the impacted target, and domino effect risk were respectively calculated using Monte-Carlo simulations under the barrier net. The effects of the height of barrier net on the probability of fragments impact were mainly investigated to obtain the reasonable height of barrier net. The results showed that the domino effect risk was decreased by nearly an order of magnitude, due to the significant reduction of impact probability of fragments. The relative differences demonstrated that 70%–90% reduction in the domino effect risk was performed by the barrier net. The impact probability of fragments decreased, but the intercepting probability of the barrier net increased linearly with the height of barrier net. To save cost and leave space for emergency escape and rescue, the barrier net should be installed on an initial height level. Under the same height of barrier net, the intercepting probability will be increased much more than that under the barrier net directly installed on the ground.