Probabilistic assessment of storage facilities involved in flood events: Damage models development and application

This study presents a methodology for the probabilistic assessment of equipment items involved in flooding events. In particular, the study focuses on vertical cylindrical vessels operating at atmospheric pressure, since these equipment items were frequently damaged during past flood events. The impact mode of flooding was schematized on the basis of the analysis of past accidents in industrial facilities involved in floods. The flood impact and the resulting damage conditions were thus described. In order to evaluate the resistance of storage vessels to flood events, a mechanical model was developed, based on the comparison between the flooding intensity and the resistance of the vessel. The model was validated against the available data obtained from past accident records. In order to explore the model potentialities, the application to a case-study was carried out, showing that NaTech scenarios caused by floods may have an important influence on technological risk assessment and management.