J Fail. Anal. and Preven.
(2018) 18:101–116
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-018-0386-8
TECHNICAL ARTICLE—PEER-REVIEWED
Chemical Accident Simulation Tool (CAST): A System for
Assessing Consequences of Accidents in Chemical Process
Industry
S. M. Tauseef . R. Suganya . Tasneem Abbasi . S. A. Abbasi
Submitted: 9 November 2017 / in revised form: 23 December 2017 / Published online: 9 January 2018
 ASM International 2018
Abstract The development and validation of a new
software named chemical accident simulation tool (CAST)
is presented. CAST enables development of scenarios of
different types of accidental fires and explosions that can
occur in chemical process industry (CPI). CAST is also
capable of assessing the likely consequences of such
accidents in terms of the area impacted and the types of
impacts. The distinguishing features of CAST are (a) it
incorporates a larger set of established models than handled
by existing packages to simulate a wider variety of acci-
dents in CPI; (b) it is developed with an integrated mapping
tool to display damage zones around accident center; this
makes the application useful in decision making; and (c) it
calculates the results in a fast and reliable manner. Due to
these attributes, CAST has increased efficiency, better
understanding of the accident scenarios, and better com-
munication of results. Validation of the software has been
done with published results which shows that the codes for
calculating the impacts from accidents are correct.
Keywords Chemical process industry  Explosion 
Fire  Accident scenarios  Consequence assessment 
Accident simulation tool
S. M. Tauseef
Environmental Research Institute, University of Petroleum and
Energy Studies, Dehradun 248 007, India
R. Suganya  T. Abbasi (&)  S. A. Abbasi
Centre for Pollution Control and Environmental Engineering,
Pondicherry University, Chinakalapet, Puducherry 605 014,
India
e-mail: tasneem.abbasi@gmail.com
S. A. Abbasi
e-mail: abbasi.cpee@gmail.com
Introduction
Chemical process industries (CPI)—which often handle
flammable, and/or toxic substances at different-than-normal
temperatures and/or pressures—are vulnerable to accidents
[5, 21, 22]. These accidents can lead to fires, explosions, and
toxic releases—singly or in combinations [15–20, 23, 24].
Quite often an initial fire or explosion sets off newer fires
and/or explosions, thereby exacerbating the initial accident
and building it into a catastrophe [22–31]. This likelihood of
the occurrence of ‘domino effect’ makes risk management
in CPI especially challenging [6, 7]. As we have learned
from the experience of the accidents of the kind that have
occurred at Feyzin in 1966, Mexico City and Bhopal in
1984, Buncefield and BP Refinery in 2005, Jaipur in 2009,
and BP Offshore rig in 2010, these accidents not only kill or
maim a large number of people and cause losses worth
billions of rupees every time, but also inflict incalculable
harm on the environment [5, 32, 35].
Given the increasing frequency as well as severity of
process industry accidents [1–5], it is necessary that risk of
likely accidents are assessed for all industries handling
hazardous chemicals and/or processes so that measures to
prevent catastrophic accidents of the type mentioned above
can be put in place. The accident may be an explosion,
leading to blast waves and missiles, or a fire leading to
thermal radiation intensity. Or it may be causing a toxic
dose in the event of a toxic leak. Several empirical, ana-
lytical, and field models have been developed to estimate
the consequences of such accidents. With these models it is
possible to forecast how different types of accidents may
occur and what would be their likely consequences [14, 21].
We have recently made [38] a critical assessment of
available software for forecasting the impact of accidents
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