Three-Dimensional Modeling of Rocket-Propellant Dispersion

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of using a small computer to operate a three-dimensional atmospheric model to forecast the transport and dispersion of airborne hazardous materials at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB). The contractor investigated the feasibility of using the three-dimensional atmospheric models HOTMAC (Higher Order Turbulence Model for Atmospheric Circulations) and RAPTAD (Random Puff Transport and Diffusion) to meet the objective of the project. HOTMAC is a mesoscale atmospheric model that can forecast three-dimensional distributions of wind speed, wind direction, turbulence, temperature, and water vapor. RAPTAD is a Lagrangian puff code based on the Monte Carlo statistical diffusion process. The center location and standard deviation of concentration distribution for each puff axe computed by use of wind and turbulence modeled by HOTMAC. Then concentration at any location is computed by summation of concentrations contributed by all the puffs.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1991
Accession Number
ADA260003

Entities

People

  • S. Bunker
  • Tomoaki Yamada

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Atmospheric Motion
  • Boundary Layer
  • Buoyancy
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Computational Science
  • Computers
  • Differential Equations
  • Diffusion
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Heat Energy
  • Lapse Rate
  • Mainframe Computers
  • Meteorology
  • Sea Breeze
  • Surface Properties
  • Turbulence
  • Turbulent Mixing

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Aerosol Science/Aerosol Physics
  • Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of Proposed Air Force Base Actions.
  • Statistical inference.