An integrated emergency response model for toxic gas release accidents based on cellular automata

An integrated emergency response model based on cellular automata (CA) is proposed for the toxic gas release accidents that happen in the energy and chemical industry. This integrated emergency response model consists of three sub-models: a toxic gas dispersion model, a dynamic evaluation model for accident consequences, and an evacuation route selection model. When a toxic gas release accident happens, the dispersion model predicts the distribution of toxic gas concentration, the evaluation model estimates the consequences in terms of probability of death, expected fatalities and impact scope caused by the accident, and the route selection model provides the safest evacuation route for evacuees. The three sub-models run simultaneously and present real-time results. The proposed model is applied to an ammonia gas release accident in an energy and chemical enterprise, and the corresponding model results are discussed. The efficiency of emergency response for toxic gas release accidents can be further improved through the proposed integrated emergency response model based on CA.