Modelling and staging accident scenarios with dangerous substances in the transport infrastructure of the municipality of Mortágua

Abstract

The development and well-being of industrialized societies inevitably requires coexistence with dangerous substances. These can be found in different physical states, under very different pressure and temperature conditions, stored inside industrial units and commercial spaces with different characteristics, on every kind of conventional transport link or in pipelines deployed throughout the country, thereby greatly contributing to their territorial distribution. This study concentrated on the municipality of Mortágua. It consisted of a survey of the infrastructure that supports the transport of dangerous substances, the type of dangerous substances that make use of it and how frequently they are transported. ALOHA® software was subsequently used to simulate the occurrence of an accident in each infrastructure element, to create three different situations, namely, the propagation of a toxic cloud, a flammable cloud, and the thermal radiation caused by BLEVE or jet fire. The results reveal the lack of information about some types of transport of dangerous substances and when it does exist, it is not properly treated.