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International audience; Serious games and environmental computer-based simulations can be useful training tools for people who have to act in emergencies. Currently, stakeholders who deal with crises have to make decisions under stress, for example in order to mitigate consequences or avoid negative impacts on high-stake elements. Many factors are critical in a training environment for ensuring that effective learning occurs, principally: experience improvement, engagement and immersion, and realism. This paper aims to identify the limits of existing learning systems for emergency stakeholders within a crisis cell and then to propose a set of recommendations in order to specify a system to improve the effectiveness of peoples' actions in case of a major crisis. The development of this approach requires the pooling of information concerning varied and multidisciplinary skills. The paper first focuses on the classical difficulties of crisis management, after which the notion of experience in decision-making is defined. The issue is studied from three points of view: the educational approach, the simulation system, and the training environment. The last section of this paper contributes to establishing a set of enhancements which can lead to the specification of simulation based learning systems for further development. More particularly, we specify the needed characteristics of our learning approach and teaching strategy. Finally, we propose a model with the main steps that have to be implemented in order to design a new learning system: a semi-virtual training environment for strategic crisis management.

The mitigation of the consequences of accidental releases of dangerous toxic and/or flammable cloud is a serious concern in the petro-chemical and gas industries. Nowadays, the water-curtain is recognized as a useful technique to mitigate a heavy gas cloud. The paper presents a research methodology, which has been established and undertaken to quantify the forced dispersion factor provided by a water-curtain with respect to its configuration. The method involves medium-scale field tests, Wind-Gallery tests and numerical simulations. These different approaches are discussed and exemplified by typical results emphasizing the observed concentration reduction due to the water-curtain.

Numerous accidents involving dangerous substances may unfortunately occur, namely because of the importance of the transport of dangerous materials, of the storage and use of dangerous products on industrial sites. Several kinds of barriers can be used to protect or reduce the consequences of these accidents, such as the water curtains which mitigate the atmospheric dispersion of toxic clouds. Nevertheless, few studies assessing their effectiveness exist and models predicting the concentrations downstream of water curtains are scarce. In this context, a new concept, based on the representation of the water curtain as a Discontinuous Virtual Source is proposed. From this concept, the DVS model aims to predict on one hand the influence of the ‘peacock tail hose’ (vertical and upwards water curtain) on the dispersion of a toxic cloud, on the other hand, to predict the concentrations downwind of the water barrier. The bases of the model are set out and the results of the simulation, are presented and compared with experimental values of an ammonia plume dispersion in presence of the peacock tail spray.

International audience; We have studied the sequence of events that occurs when a high-speed projectile (from 960 m s−1 to 1480 m s−1) penetrates a vessel filled with toxic liquid. We find that prior to liquid ejection several well-defined phases occur, including the phenomenon known as the “hydraulic ram.” Then a catastrophic tank failure leads to liquid ejection and fragmentation. This paper focuses on this phenomenon and explains how it can be related to the initial conditions of the target.

International audience; Since the events of September 11, 2001, the possibility of an intentional act targeting the chemical process industry has become realistic. It is, therefore, a great concern to be able to predict the immediate consequences of such an act. This study is intended to improve our knowledge about the sequence of events that occurs when a high-speed bullet (>1000 m s−1) penetrates a vessel filled with toxic liquid. We find that, prior to liquid ejection, several well-defined phases occur, including the phenomenon known as the “hydraulic ram.” This paper focuses on projectile–target interactions and explains how the decay of projectile velocity is related to the initial conditions of the target.

International audience; This work has been carried out in the framework of the ARAMIS project, which aims at developing a comprehensive procedure for assessing the risk level associated to an industrial site with respect to the surrounding environment. To this end, an index is defined which consists of the contribution of three terms, expressing the severity of the scenario consequences, the efficiency of the safety management and the vulnerability of the surrounding environment. The present work focuses on this last aspect concerning the determination of the vulnerability, of the area in the vicinity of an industrial site, of human, environmental (or natural) and material stakes. The applied methodology consists in identifying and quantifying the targets by the means of a geographical information system (GIS) and in assessing the contribution of each target on the basis of a multicriteria decision approach (Saaty method). The result is an operational tool allowing competent authorities, industrialists and risk experts to assess the vulnerability of the area surrounding an industrial site.