Smoke Plume Trajectory From In Situ Burning of Crude Oil in Alaska: Field Experiments and Modeling of Complex Terrain.
Smoke Plume Trajectory From In Situ Burning of Crude Oil
in Alaska: Field Experiments and Modeling of Complex
Terrain.
(15552 K)
McGrattan, K. B.; Baum, H. R.; Walton, W. D.; Trelles,
J. J.
NISTIR 5958; NIST SP 995; Volume 2; 135 p. January
1997.
Sponsor:
Department of the Interior, Washington, DC
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Juneau,
AK
Available from:
National Technical Information Service
(NTIS), Technology Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.
Telephone:
1-800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000;
Fax: 703-605-6900.
Website: http://www.ntis.gov
Order number: PB97-140560
Keywords:
crude oil; oil spills; in situ combustion; pool fires;
smoke; fire plumes; smoke movement; in situ burning
Abstract:
A combination of numerical modeling and large scale
experimentation has yielded a tremendous amount of
information about the structure, trajectory and
composition of smoke plumes from large crude oil fires.
The model, ALOFT (A Large Outdoor Fire plume
Trajectory), is based on the fundamental conservation
equations that govern the introduction of hot gases and
particulate matter from a large fire into the
atmosphere. Two forms of the Navier-Stokes equations
are solved numerically - one to describe the plume rise
in the first kilometer, the other to describe the plume
transport over tens of kilometers of complex terrain.
Each form of the governing equations resolves the flow
field at different length scales. Particulate matter,
or any non-reacting combustion product, is represented
by Lagrangian paticles that are advected by the
fire-induced flow field. Background atmospheric motion
is described in terms of the angular fluctuation of the
prevailing wind, and represented by random perturbations
to the mean particle paths. Results of the model are
compared with three sets of field experiments.
Estimates are made of distances from the fire where
ground level concentrations of the combustion products
fall below regulatory threshold levels.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899