Explosion modeling and analysis of BP Deepwater Horizon accident

The BP Deepwater Horizon blowout not only resulted in an oil release over several months but also caused an explosion topside which took 11 lives. The details of the causes of the accident and a computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) modeling of the dispersion of flammable gas was given in the BP investigation report (BP, 2010). However, the explosion consequence was not studied in the BP report. In this study a CFD model was used to simulate the dispersion of flammable gas and integrated with the explosion consequences. The simulation includes modeling of the dispersion of the vapor cloud in the first section and modeling the resulting explosion based on the dispersion results. Through the modeling, it was determined that the overpressure in the engine room and in highly congested areas of the platform are 1.7 (bar) and 0.8 (bar), respectively. The model also identified overpressure regions on the platform and the effect of the area’s congestion on overpressure intensity: lower overpressure in lower congested areas and higher overpressure in higher congested/confined areas.

► Recreating the sequence of vapor cloud dispersion and explosion during the recent accident.
► Integration of dispersion and explosion using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model.
► Comparison of CFD model results in dispersion part with the BP report.
► Knowing the extent and location of overpressure helps to design risk control and mitigative measures
► This paper helps the readers to better understand how to use CFD tool in modeling of vapor cloud explosion.