Natural forces such as wind, rising heat, pressure gradients will disperse airborne substances that may include hazardous releases from a process safety incident. Atmospheric dispersion models are useful in being able to predict such phenomena for planning as well as emergency response purposes. Fundamental chemical engineering principles such as, heat and mass transfer and mixing are the basis of such models.
Students will learn the usefulness of the atmospheric dispersion models, and critical factors that influence the calculations. These may include wind direction and speed, elevations, surface characteristics, and atmospheric variability.
They will also learn about various types of dispersion models from simple passive models to complex Computational Fluid Dynamics models, and their strengths and weaknesses. The calculations behind several plume models are explained. The course also touches on toxic and flammability hazards and the emergency response planning guidelines.
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Unit 1
- Define "atmospheric dispersion”
- Explain why atmospheric dispersion models are useful
- Identify how atmospheric dispersion is related to familiar topics in chemical engineering (e.g., fluid flow, heat transfer, and influence of turbulence on mixing)
Unit 2
- Identify important factors that characterize atmospheric flow and describe how these parameters impact the dispersion of a COTA cloud
- Identify characteristics of the material hazard and type of release that are important to atmospheric dispersion models
- Determine the dispersion modeling averaging time appropriate to assess the hazard under consideration
Unit 3
- Identify the strengths and weakness of different atmospheric dispersion modeling approaches
- Simulate example chemical releases using Gaussian and Britter-McQuaid models
- Describe how the ALOHA® hazard modeling software can be used for atmospheric dispersion modeling
This intermediate course is for upper-level (junior or senior) chemical engineering undergraduates who have had some exposure to process safety. It also may be taken by early career professionals who have no exposure to the topic.
The concepts covered here are at a basic level, but it is suggested that the student have some familiarity with heat and mass transfer before taking the course. Alternately the course can be taken concurrently with undergraduate engineering courses covering these subjects.
The course is intended to be taken in combination with other related SACHE courses. In particular, it is highly recommended that ELA965 “Source Models” be taken prior to this course, as understanding the possible rate of release of chemicals into the atmosphere is essential to understanding how they disperse.
- Unit 1 - Introduction to Atmospheric Dispersion
- Unit 2 - Characterizing the Atmosphere and Release Conditions
- Unit 3 - Atmospheric Dispersion Models
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