Smoke Plume Trajectory From In Situ Burning of Crude Oil in Alaska.
Smoke Plume Trajectory From In Situ Burning of Crude Oil
in Alaska.
(3812 K)
McGrattan, K. B.; Putorti, A. D., Jr.; Twilley, W. H.;
Evans, D. D.
NISTIR 5273; NIST SP 995; Volume 2; 70 p. October 1993.
Sponsor:
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Juneau,
AK
Available from:
National Technical Information Service
Order number: PB94-114519
Keywords:
crude oil; oil spills; in situ combustion; pool fires;
smoke; fire plumes; smoke movement; in situ burning
Abstract:
Experimentation, analysis, and modeling have been
performed to predict the downwind dispersion of smoke
resulting from in situ burning of oil spills. North
Slope and Cook Inlet crude oils are burned on water in a
1.2 meter diameter pan. Smoke yields were found to be
11.6% + 1.0 for North Slope crude, and 9.2% + 0.6 Cook
Inlet crude by mass of fuel consumed, with a 95%
confidence interval. Burning rates and smoke aerosol
size distributions are also measured, and found similar
to previous work with different crude oils. Derivation
of scaling factors for predicting the burning rates and
smoke yields of large scale fires are guided by previous
experiments with Louisiana crude oil. Scaled burning
rates and smoke yields are supplied as input parameters
for the LES (Large Eddy Simulation) model, version 2.0,
of windblown smoke transport over flat terrain. For
weather conditions appropriate for the Cook Inlet and
North Slope areas, model results are presented which
predict downwind dispersion and ground level
concentrations of the fire generated particulate matter.
The model predicts that ground level particulate
concentrations in excess of 150 mg/m3 are limited to
strips 5 km long and 1 km wide downwind of the fire for
all meteorological conditions considered.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899