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More than 70% of accidents that occur in o - shore installations, as might be expected in environments where oil and gas are pro- cessed, stem from hydrocarbon explosions and res. ese extremely hazardous phenomena have serious consequences for the structural safety of o shore installations and, consequently, for human health and the surrounding environment. erefore, the structural integrity of o shore installations exposed to such haz- ards is a key challenge faced by the o shore industry. O shore structures can be damaged or collapse as a result of a number of possible incidents. With respect to hydrocarbon re and explosion threats, a risk-based design framework should involve both risk assessment and risk management. Explosion and re hazards are hard to predict, so any identification helps to prevent and/or mitigate them. Feedback from historical data can be of tremen- dous value during a hazard identication brainstorming session when analyzing event frequencies and conse- quences. It is during such sessions that deviations from normal operations, unlikely events, and human factors come into play. Hazards related to o shore facilities are identied by teams of experts and users, who also work jointly on risk assessment, risk reduction, and emer- gency preparedness. These three issues are separate entities, where in most cases the implementation of a risk control option is to be decreed by regulations. Qualitative risk assessment is based on the generic experience of personnel and involves no mathematical estimations. It essentially involves a checklist review in which questions or process parameters are employed to prompt a discussion of the process design and opera- tions and possible accident scenarios. Quantitative risk assessment, in contrast, involves mathematical esti- mations that rely on historical evidence or estimates of failure to predict the occurrence of a particular event. Existing technology can couple numerous scenar- ios together in a multi-physics analysis where thermal, impulsive, ultimate limit state, and hydrodynamic analy- ses are linked in one common system with the capability of parametric design. Studying various scenarios with advanced techniques can help designers understand the consequences of an initiating event. This leads to engineering systems against target safety levels, systems which aim to nd balance between minimum cost and maximum safety of the designed structures. Our purpose here is to present emerging technologies and trends for BY JERZY CZUJKO AND JEOM KEE PAIK Hydrocarbon Explosions Assessing and managing hydrocarbon explosion and ?re risks in oshore installations The Deepwater Horizon accident occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010. April 2012 www.sname.org/sname/mt