Gravity spreading and dispersion of dense gas clouds released suddenly into a turbulent boundary layer

Abstract

Wind tunnel concentration data were obtained from modeling tests of the dispersion of three different source volumes released in five wind field conditions. Multiple replication of each experiment provided statistics of cloud behavior. Results were compared against numerical box and depth averaged models to specify entrainment constants and evaluate behavior. Extrapolation of the results to sudden spills of quantities of Propane suggest that current Gaussian-plume predictions using the CHRIS approach are incorrect.