An Investigation on the Capabilities of the Computational Fluid Dynamics in HSE Problems

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the use of computer-based simulation to obtain an approximate solution to the equations which govern fluid motion for particular applications. The technique is characterized by a division of the region in which flow is to be computed into a very large number of much smaller domains referred to as grid cells. The solution consists of values of flow parameters of interest, such as velocity, temperature, composition of encountering components, etc. calculated at each of the grid cells. In the present work, some of previous successful applications of CFD in solvingHSE problems were presented. These problems includes the prediction of smoke movement in complex enclosed spaces, the application of CFD to gas leaks, modelling water spray barriers typically used in tunnels under construction, ventilation and contaminant transport. In addition, a three dimensional CFD model was developed to model the dispersion of particulate matters from stack of a cement plant. The computa*onal domain was divided to 936781 tetrahedral control volumes. The particulate matter was treated as a homogenous phase and the mixture two-phase model of Fluent6.3 commercial so1ware was employed to model the interaction between the particulate matter and air. The CFD predicted concentration profile of particulate matter was compared with measured data and a good agreement was observed. It was concluded that CFD is a powerful tool to explain and predict a wide range of problems in the HSE field.

Keywords:

Computational Fluid Dynamics , modelling , HSE