Detailed Numerical Simulation of the Graniteville Train Collision

Conference · Mon Oct 24 04:00:00 EDT 2005

OSTI ID:881486

Buckley, R L

An unfortunate accident occurred in Graniteville, South Carolina on 6 January, 2005 when a train carrying a variety of hazardous chemicals collided with a stationary train parked on a siding rail (spur). The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) runs prognostic atmospheric simulations of the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) on an operational basis in the event of such airborne releases. Although forecast information was provided at 2-km horizontal grid spacing during the accident response, a higher-resolution simulation was later performed to examine influences of local topography on plume migration. The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS, version 4.3.0) was used to simulate meteorology using multiple grids with an innermost grid spacing of 125 meters. This report discusses comparisons of simulated meteorology with local observations and applications using two separate transport models. Results from the simulations are shown to generally agree with meteorological observations at the time. Use of a dense gas model to simulate localized effects indicates agreement with fatalities in the immediate area and visible damage to vegetation.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-96SR18500
• OSTI ID: 881486
• Report Number(s): WSRC-MS-2005-00635
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ACCIDENTS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
METEOROLOGY
PLANTS
PLUMES
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
SOUTH CAROLINA
TRAINS