allows users direct access to the models through a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet interface.

DNV Software's world-renowned consequence models, which have been available for many years within its products, are now available directly from within a spreadsheet interface.

The spreadsheets will allow you to directly access the calculations through a Microsoft Excel interface. The calculations are faster and more easily accessible whilst the sequence of models and type of results displayed can be modified to meet your specific needs.

Available for all major models
The spreadsheets allow more in-depth analysis than the linked calculations in the software programs by giving clear visibility and direct control of inputs and outputs. They are designed to be used on their own or linked together to provide combined output. The spreadsheets are available for all the major models used in DNV Software’s risk programs and are grouped together into four main areas. These are:

Discharge

• From orifices or short pipes
• From long pipelines
• Tank roof collapse/removal

Dispersion and Pool Evaporation

• Outdoor dispersion using DNV’s Unified Dispersion Model (UDM)
• Building wake dispersion
• Pool evaporation

Fires and Radiation

• Fireball
• Pool fire including air entrainment (smoke)
• Jet fire
• Warehouse fire

Explosions

• Multi-energy explosion model
• Baker-Strehlow explosion model
• CCPS BLEVE explosion model

Flexible linking of individual spreadsheets
Linkage of spreadsheets is very flexible. For example, within DNV Software’s consequence modelling software package, Phast, the models are linked in a pre-defined way so that they run from Discharge, to Dispersion and Pool Evaporation then to Fires, Radiation and Explosions. In the spreadsheets this same order can be reproduced; additionally, new links that have not been available through any software product can be created. For example, results from the Pool Fire model, which includes air entrainment, can be used as an input to the Dispersion model. Subsequent output from the Dispersion model can simulate the dispersion of smoke, something that is not available in any of DNV Software’s risk products. The spreadsheets are sold individually but can be linked upon request.

Earlier availability of model updates
The model spreadsheets are advanced tools that have been used for many years by DNV Software modelling staff for detailed model testing and sensitivity analysis. Additionally, they have been delivered to and used by many external companies who have sponsored modelling research for their own organisation or as part of a Joint Industry Project. An example is the Flashing Liquid Jets and Two-Phase Droplet Dispersion project described in the September 2004 issue of Software News. In this case, project sponsors were provided with a model spreadsheet that performed calculations using the newly available model. In a similar manner, model updates will be available to users of model spreadsheets before they appear in the software. As models are updated and tested, new versions can be provided to spreadsheet users immediately instead of waiting for the next release of the software.

Data Input and Results
The spreadsheets have been designed so that the data input and output have the same look and feel for all models. They allow a sensitivity analysis with a minimum of data entry and the production of any of three plot types with very little user interaction. Two types of model input are required; input data, which is usually specified by the user and can be varied for each model run, and input parameters, for which default settings are provided. Users will have access to all model parameters including those usually unavailable within software. Limits usually applied to input data and parameters in the software may also be adjusted in the model spreadsheets, allowing a wider range of analysis than is possible from within the software. Scalar and array data are produced and displayed in tabular and graphical format. Three types of plots are allowed, including any variety of scalar input, scalar output and array output.