133 research outputs found
Critically loaded multi-server queues with abandonments, retrials, and time-varying parameters
In this paper, we consider modeling time-dependent multi-server queues that
include abandonments and retrials. For the performance analysis of those, fluid
and diffusion models called "strong approximations" have been widely used in
the literature. Although they are proven to be asymptotically exact, their
effectiveness as approximations in critically loaded regimes needs to be
investigated. To that end, we find that existing fluid and diffusion
approximations might be either inaccurate under simplifying assumptions or
computationally intractable. To address that concern, this paper focuses on
developing a methodology by adjusting the fluid and diffusion models so that
they significantly improve the estimation accuracy. We illustrate the accuracy
of our adjusted models by performing a number of numerical experiments
Inherent Safety
It is a known fact that prevention is always better than control but traditionally safety measures
within the field of engineering is usually applied to control the hazards rather than reducing
them. This approach based on controlling a hazard is often referred to as âextrinsic safetyâ as opposed to the approach of reducing the presence of a hazard, which is called âinherent safetyâ15.
The concept of inherent safety comes from theories formulated by Trevor Kletz, in his article,
entitled âWhat You Donât Have, Canât Leak. Years later in 1991, Mr. Kletz published a more
updated version of his studies titled âPlant Design for Safety â A User-Friendly Approachâ,
which gave rise to the modern concepts of inherent safety. Inherently safer design has been
advocated since the explosion at Flixborough in 1974, which raised a lot of question about safety
in chemical plants.
As mentioned earlier an inherently safer design is one that avoids hazards instead of
controlling them, particularly by removing or reducing the amount of hazardous material in the plant or the number of hazardous operations21. Hazards can be reduced or eliminated by
changing the materials, chemistry, and process variables such that the reduced hazard is
characteristic of the new conditions and such a process with reduced hazards is described as
inherently safer. Inherent safety recognizes there is no chemical process that is without risk, but
all chemical processes can be made safer by applying inherently safer concepts. Therefore in
order to reduce the hazards we need to be able to understand the various concepts of inherent safety, more commonly called âinherently safer design strategiesâ21. The inherently safer design
strategies have been grouped into four major strategies:
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1. Intensification: Using smaller quantities of hazardous substances.
2. Substitution: Replacing a material or a process with a less hazardous one.
3. Simplification: Designing facilities which eliminate unnecessary complexity.
4. Attenuation: Facilities which minimize the impact of a hazardous release
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