(367b) Immersive Visualization of Consequence Modeling Results for Potential LNG Incidents

As LNG import terminal and facility construction increases due to the growing demand for importing LNG overseas, concerns about the potential hazards that LNG spills could pose have been raised. These include cryogenic hazard, flammable vapor cloud dispersion, and pool fire. Numerous consequence modeling methods have been proposed as the prediction tool for determining facility siting and layout in the design stage. On the other hand, the advance of immersive visualization techniques in enhancing research, teaching, and engineering design has been widely proposed and implemented. This paper addresses the immersive visualization of consequence modeling results for potential LNG spill incidents. An immersive visualization facility (better known by the acronym CAVE) located in Texas A&M University at Qatar was used to create a 3-D virtual reality environment for interactively visualizing and analyzing time-varying simulation datasets. The CAVE enables users almost to become part of simulated scenarios and allows them to physically and intuitively observe what is happening around them. Two case studies were performed using the CAVE facility: LNG vapor dispersion and pool fire. Post-processing softwares?Paraview and Ensight were chosen to convert the format of simulation output to one acceptable as in input for the CAVE. A variety of conditions which result in different risks to adjacent property or personnel were simulated and observed. Additionally, visualization features will be discussed to illustrate how to make an effective visualization in consequence modeling.