CFD and VR for Risk Communication and Safety Training

There are new safety challenges with an increased use of hydrogen, e.g. that people may not see dangerous jet flames in case of an incident. Compared to conventional fuels, hydrogen has very different characteristics and physical properties, and is stored at very high pressure or at very low temperatures. Thus the nature of hazard scenarios will be very different. Consequence modelling of ventilation, releases, explosions and fires can be used to predict and thus understand hazards. In order to describe the detailed development of a hazard scenario and evaluate ways of mitigation, 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models will be required. Even with accurate modelling the communication of risk can be challenging. For this visualization in virtual reality (VR) may be of good help, in which the CFD model predictions are presented in a realistic 3D environment with the possibility to include sounds like noise from a high pressure release, explosion or fire. In cooperation with Statoil, Christian Michelsen Research (CMR) and GexCon have developed the VRSafety application. VRSafety can visualize simulation results from FLACS (and another CFD-tool KFX) in an immersive VR-lab or on a PC. VRSafety can further be used to interactively control and start new CFD-simulations during the sessions. The combination of accurate CFD-modelling, visualization and interactive use through VRSafety, represents a powerful toolbox for safety training and risk communication to first-responders, employees, media and other stakeholders. It can also be used for lessons learned sessions studying incidents and accidents, and to demonstrate what went wrong and how mitigation could have prevented accidents from happening. This paper will describe possibilities with VRSafety and give examples of use.