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Title: Wind-tunnel study of atmospheric dispersion of exhausts from the NDERF building stack

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5633466

The dispersion of trace amounts of gases or particles from the stack of the NDERF building at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was investigated by conducting scaled experiments in an atmospheric wind tunnel. The stack is 35m tall and is located in a suburban-type setting near two- and three-story buildings and medium-height trees. The wind-tunnel boundary layer was representative of a slightly unstable atmosphere with velocity and turbulence intensity profiles comparable to those in full scale at the Laboratory. Wind-tunnel tests consisted of releasing an ethane tracer gas from the stack in the tunnel and measuring ground-level concentration profiles and vertical concentration profiles. Tests were conducted for conditions representative of wind speeds of 7 mph and for north, west, and east wind directions. Smoke tracer tests were also conducted to visually show the shape of the dispersing plume. Results of the smoke tests show that the dispersing plume makes contact with the building's roof air intakes. Results of the dispersion experiments show values of peak ground-level concentrations generally occurring 600m downstream of the stack. Wind-tunnel ground-level concentrations show close agreement with those predicted by Gaussian dispersion models. 8 refs., 22 figs., 2 tabs.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
5633466
Report Number(s):
UCRL-21199; ON: DE89016510
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English