Hazard identification by extended multilevel flow modelling with function roles

HAZOP studies are widely accepted in chemical and petroleum industries as the method for conducting process hazard analysis related to design, maintenance and operation of the systems. In this paper, a HAZOP reasoning method based on function-oriented modelling, multilevel flow modelling (MFM) is extended with function roles to complete HAZOP studies in principle. A graphical MFM editor, which is combined with the reasoning engine (MFM Workbench) developed by DTU is applied to automate HAZOP studies. The method is proposed to support the ‘brain-storming’ sessions in traditional HAZOP analysis. As a case study, the extended MFM-based HAZOP methodology is applied to an offshore three-phase separation process. The results show that the cause-consequence analysis in MFM can infer the cause and effect of a deviation used in HAZOP and used to fill HAZOP worksheet. This paper is the first paper discussing and demonstrating the potential of the roles concept in MFM to supplement the completeness of HAZOP analysis in theory.