On line simulation system for industrial accidents

Mathematicalmodels are important tools to evaluate the consequences of possible industrial accidents. Thesemodels are often difficult to apply because they require trained users.Anon line simulation systemwith a graphical user interface has been developed and is installed as a server-side application on the internet at the web address http://www.enviroware.it. The system currently contains two models; EXPSYS is suitable to carry out consequence analysis and allows the user to evaluate the area impacted by industrial accidents such as explosions, fires and releases of toxic or flammable gases. TOXFLAM is an analytic model suitable for simulating the atmospheric dispersion of gases at air density. Other simulationmodels will be added to the systemin the future, thanks to the modular structure. The modelling system allows each user to upload her/his own topography files and to georeference them. The topography files are then used bothduring the input phase, for example to position the sourcebymeans of themouse pointer, and during the output phase for plotting the concentration fields or the area at risk. Each simulation, composed of input and output data, can be saved in the personal folder of the user. The simulation data can then be reloaded to viewthe results, or used to start newsimulations and can be removedwhen they are no longer needed.Asimulationsystembased onthe internet has some advantageswithrespect to single simulationmodels usedoff-line.For example all the users share a unique simulation tool, they can suggest modifications and improvements are readily available to all. The graphical user interface created withHTMLmakes themodelsmore friendly and easy to use, and available on any platform, independently fromthe operating system. Moreover output data can be available, both as ASCII data and directly processed to give a graphical result.