We are delighted to announce the January 2006 release of Phast and Safeti. This release will be delivered to over 500 maintained users.
Version 6.5 will continue the long history of program upgrades which have ensured Phast and Safeti’s place as consequence and risk analysis software leaders, used and accepted by governments, operators, consultancies and academia throughout the world. The software is used to assess the effects of flammable and toxic releases, estimating the distance chemicals may travel given local weather conditions and the number of people who may be injured by these events.
This version will include a wide spread of enhancements, including upgrades to the user interface and modelling for both the consequence and risk areas of the program. These enhancements will provide you with a more user-friendly interface and greater accuracy in your calculations. It will also provide access to a new product mode, PhastFX, for the calculation of specific consequence effects.
GIS improvements
The mapping functionality has been widely extended, allowing you to use Phast and Safeti as an increasingly graphical tool. You can define cases by locating them on maps and edit them by selecting them from the map view. You will be able to link more easily with AutoCAD and export all consequence and risk results for use with your other GISenabled applications.
Consequence modelling
After significant improvements to the toxic calculations in version 6.42, version 6.5 will focus on flammable modelling improvements. This will include updates to the jet fire, fireball and explosion consequence calculations.
Previously, in the evaluation of hazards associated with jet flames, you were limited to the choice of the ‘API’ and the ‘SHELL-Cook’ jet fire models. This release will benefit from significant improvements and increased choice in the modelling of jet fires and the evaluation of associated radiation effects. The jet fire modelling will be fully validated and verified for version 6.5, and the number of models available to you will be increased to allow for modelling of a greater number of scenarios.
We will provide you with a recommended model that automates selection according to your case conditions, and extended results will permit the modelling of a greater range of effects. You will be able to model cross-wind effects, negatively inclined release sources, buoyant horizontal flames and jet flames resulting from two-phase releases. The likelihood of on-ground flame-impingement and its approximate location will also be reported.
You will also be able to model fireballs more accurately. Calculations from the TNO model for flame size, duration and lift-off will be linked with the current (version 6.42) HSE flame surface emissive power model. This will give enhanced results and fireball lift-off modelling for the first time.
The Baker Strehlow and the TNO Multi-Energy models will both be further improved. Baker Strehlow has implemented a 2.5D confinement curve and TNO have allowed for non-integer curve specification. These new curves are available in version 6.5.
Risk modelling
The risk modelling will be improved by the addition of flammable probit calculations. This method will extend the previous single radiation level zone to multiple lethality levels, and the modelling will support the Purple Book Criteria, where the probability of death is a function of radiation
level and duration.
In addition, for the first time you will be able to enter your own effect zones for inclusion in the risk calculations. Termed ‘User Defined Effect Zones’, these will allow you to modify calculated consequence zones such as the flash fire boundary, and also to add your own effect zones calculated from other tools. This enables the inclusion of scenarios and mitigation measures not currently available in Phast or Safeti. These could include, for example, scenarios such as missile zones, and mitigation measures such as fire walls and water curtains. Once entered, these zones will be included in the total risk results for both individual and societal risk outputs.
Ease of use
Following from the success of the user interface improvements in version 6.42, further enhancements to this area will be implemented in version 6.5. In the new release you will be able to define mixtures as part of your spreadsheet input, upgrade materials and parameters more easily and utilise the new autosave feature. We trust that all of these improvements will help you use the program more efficiently and effectively.