Biomedical subjects

J G Bartzis

Publications and source records attributed to J G Bartzis.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Source, dispersion and combustion modelling of an accidental release of hydrogen in an urban environment.

Hydrogen is likely to be the most important future energy carrier, for many stationary and mobile applications, with the potential to make significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions especially if renewable primary energy sources are used to produce the hydrogen. A safe transition to the use of hydrogen by members of the general public requires that the safety issues associated with hydrogen applications have to be investigated and fully understood. In order to assess the risks associated with hydrogen applications, its behaviour in realistic accident scenarios has to be predicted, allowing mitigating measures to be developed where necessary. A key factor in this process is predicting the release, dispersion and combustion of hydrogen in appropriate scenarios. This paper illustrates an application of CFD methods to the simulation of an actual hydrogen explosion. The explosion occurred on 3 March 1983 in a built up area of central Stockholm, Sweden, after the accidental release of approximately 13.5 kg of hydrogen from a rack of 18 interconnected 50 l industrial pressure vessels (200 bar working pressure) being transported by a delivery truck. Modelling of the source term, dispersion and combustion were undertaken separately using three different numerical tools, due to the differences in physics and scales between the different phenomena. Results from the dispersion calculations together with the official accident report were used to identify a possible ignition source and estimate the time at which ignition could have occurred. Ignition was estimated to occur 10s after the start of the release, coinciding with the time at which the maximum flammable hydrogen mass and cloud volume were found to occur (4.5 kg and 600 m(3), respectively). The subsequent simulation of the combustion adopts initial conditions for mean flow and turbulence from the dispersion simulations, and calculates the development of a fireball. This provides physical values, e.g. maximum overpressure and far-field overpressure that may be used as a comparison with the known accident details to give an indication of the validity of the models. The simulation results are consistent with both the reported near-field damage to buildings and persons and with the far-field damage to windows. The work was undertaken as part of the European Integrated Hydrogen Project-Phase 2 (EIHP2) with partial funding from the European Commission via the Fifth Framework Programme.

Accidents↗

PubMed2003

DISPLAY-2: a two-dimensional shallow layer model for dense gas dispersion including complex features.

A two-dimensional shallow layer model has been developed to predict dense gas dispersion, under realistic conditions, including complex features such as two-phase releases, obstacles and inclined ground. The model attempts to predict the time and space evolution of the cloud formed after a release of a two-phase pollutant into the atmosphere. The air-pollutant mixture is assumed ideal. The cloud evolution is described mathematically through the Cartesian, two-dimensional, shallow layer conservation equations for mixture mass, mixture momentum in two horizontal directions, total pollutant mass fraction (vapor and liquid) and mixture internal energy. Liquid mass fraction is obtained assuming phase equilibrium. Account is taken in the conservation equations for liquid slip and eventual liquid rainout through the ground. Entrainment of ambient air is modeled via an entrainment velocity model, which takes into account the effects of ground friction, ground heat transfer and relative motion between cloud and surrounding atmosphere. The model additionally accounts for thin obstacles effects in three ways. First a stepwise description of the obstacle is generated, following the grid cell faces, taking into account the corresponding area blockage. Then obstacle drag on the passing cloud is modeled by adding flow resistance terms in the momentum equations. Finally the effect of extra vorticity generation and entrainment enhancement behind obstacles is modeled by adding locally into the entrainment formula without obstacles, a characteristic velocity scale defined from the obstacle pressure drop and the local cloud height.The present model predictions have been compared against theoretical results for constant volume and constant flux gravity currents. It was found that deviations of the predicted cloud footprint area change with time from the theoretical were acceptably small, if one models the frictional forces between cloud and ambient air, neglecting the Richardson dependence.The present model has also been validated in widely different experimental conditions such as the Thorney Island instantaneous isothermal releases 8 (unobstructed) and 21 (with semicircular fence), the EEC-55 two-phase propane experiment (with and without linear fence), the Desert Tortoise 4 two-phase ammonia experiment and the Hamburg DAT-638 instantaneous inclined plate experiment and the model predictions were found in reasonable agreement with the experimental data.

Air Movements↗

PubMed2000

Analysis of data from spilling experiments performed with liquid hydrogen.

This work describes the modelling of liquid hydrogen release experiments using the ADREA-HF 3-D time dependent finite volume code for cloud dispersion, jointly developed by DEMOKRITOS and JRC-Ispra. The experiments were performed by Batelle Ingenieurtechnik for BAM (Bundesanstalt fur Materialforschung und Prufung), Berlin, in the frame of the Euro-Quebec-Hydro-Hydrogen-Pilot-Project and they mainly deal with LH2 near ground releases between buildings. In the present study, the experimental trial #5 was assumed for simulation due to the fact that in this release the largest number of sensor readings were obtained. The simulations illustrated the complex behaviour of LH2 dispersion in presence of buildings, characterized by complicated wind patterns, plume back flow near the source, dense gas behaviour at near range and significant buoyant behaviour at the far range. The simulations showed the strong effect of ground heating in the LH2 dispersion. The model also revealed major features of the dispersion that had to do with the "dense" behaviour of the cold hydrogen and the buoyant behaviour of the "warming-up" gas as well as the interaction of the building and the release wake. Such a behaviour was in qualitative and even quantitative agreement with the experiment. The results are given in terms of concentration time series, scatter plots, contour plots, wind field vector plots and 3-D concentration wireframes. Given all experiment uncertainties, the model gives reasonable results on concentrations levels.

Accidents↗