An expert system in process design-analysis of process safety and reliability

Abstract

Describes HAZOPEX, an expert system supporting the safety analysis of process systems. It is being developed in the Technical Research Centre of Finland, and is based on the hazard and operability study (HAZOP), which is widely used in the European process industry. Advanced programming techniques are used in the development of HAZOPEX. All entities in the application are represented as objects in an object hierarchy. Techniques like inheritance of characteristics and rule-based reasoning are available in the development environment in addition to Lisp and interactive graphics. The structure and application of HAZOPEX are described, and its implementation using an advanced development environment is discussed. As an example, the problem of high temperature is analyzed in an example process system consisting of tanks, valves, pumps and a heat exchanger.<>