Technical OSH Aspects in

a Chemical Plant
~Dispersion Models~
• Process equipment can release toxic materials
quickly in a huge amount to spread in dangerous
clouds throughout a plant site and the local
community
• Such incidents are:
– Explosive rupture of a process vessel as a result of
excessive pressure caused by a runaway reaction
– Rupture of a tank containing toxic materials stored
above its atmospheric boiling point.
– Rupture of a train or truck transportation.
• Describe how vapors are transported
downwind of a release
• Valid between 100 m to 10 km
– Below 100 m: use ventilation equations
– Above 10 km: almost unpredictable
• Results
– Downwind concentration
– Area affected
– Downwind evacuation distances
• Plume model – example?
• Puff model – example?
• Maximum concentration occurs at release point
and lessen downwind due to turbulent mixing
and dispersion with air
• Factors affecting dispersion
– Wind speed
– Atmospheric stability
– Ground conditions (building, water, trees)
– Height of release above ground level
– Momentum and buoyancy of the initial material
released
• Wind speed
• Atmospheric stability – normal condition
• Atmospheric stability - inversion
• Classes of atmospheric stability (Table 5-1 pg 187)
– Unstable
• the sun heats ground faster than heat can be removed
• air temperature near the ground is higher than the air
temperature at higher elevations
– Neutral
• the air above the ground warms and the wind speed
increases, reducing the effect of solar input
– Stable
• the sun cannot heat the ground as fast as the grounds cools,
leads to lower ground temperature
• Ground conditions
– Trees and buildings increase mixing
– Lakes and open areas decrease mixing
• Height of the release
• Buoyancy and momentum
– Change the effective height of the release
– The momentum of a high-velocity jet will carry the
gas higher than the point of release  much
higher effective release height
– As the gas travels downwind and is mixed with air,
a point will be reached where the gas has been
diluted adequately to be considered neutrally
buoyant  dominated by ambient turbulence
• Buoyancy and momentum
• Used to estimate the concentrations (ppm)
downwind of a release at the point the
mixture is neutrally buoyant
• Vapor cloud dispersion type
– Plume – steady-state concentration of material
released from continuous source
– Puff – temporal concentration of material from
single release of fixed amount of material
• Dispersion models are based on a mass
balance. Two approaches for modeling
purpose
– Use eddy diffusivities, K (units of area/time), to
represent turbulence.
• Advantage: Nice tidy theoretical model
• Disadvantage: K = K(x,y,z), and impossible to measure
– Use dispersion coefficients which represent the
standard deviations in the concentration profiles
• Advantage: Easy to measure and correlate
Advection equation

uj = velocity ; j = direction x,y,z ; C = concentration

Fluctuation

Eddy diffusion

5-9
• Coordinate system fixed at the release source
• Case 1: Steady-state continuous point release with no wind
• Case 2: Puff with no wind
• Case 3: Non-steady-state continuous point release with no wind
• Case 4: Steady-state continuous source release with wind
• Case 5: Puff with no wind and eddy diffusivity is a function of
direction
• Case 6: Steady-state continuous point source release with wind and
eddy diffusivity is a function of direction
• Case 7: Puff with wind
• Case 8: Puff with no wind and with source on ground
• Case 9: Steady-state plume with source on ground
• Case 10: Continuous steady-state source with source at height Hr
above the ground
• Eddy diffusivity, K, in case 1-10 is changed to dispersion coefficients, 

σ2x = ½ <C>2(ut)2-n
• Case 11: Puff with instantaneous point source at ground level, coordinates
fixed at release point, constant wind only in x direction with constant velocity
u
• Case 12: Plume with continuous steady-state source at ground level and
wind moving in x direction at constant velocity u
• Case 13: Plume with continuous steady-state source at height Hr above
ground level and wind moving in x direction at constant velocity u
• Case 14: Puff with instantaneous point source at height Hr above ground
level and a coordinate system on the ground that moves with the puff
• Case 15: Puff with instantaneous point source at height Hr above ground
level and a coordinate system fixed on the ground at the release point
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THANK YOU

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