Fluid Mechanics for Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection

Applications of the science of fluid mechanics to the new and expanding fields of industrial safety and environmental protection are discussed in this volume. The material is organized in accordance with the chain-of-events in real accidents, starting with the loss of containment of hazardous fluids, going on to the spreading and mixing processes in water or air, and ending with the damage loads caused by explosions, fires or toxic content. To develop solutions relevant to the wide range of problems considered, it is necessary to draw on material from various branches of fluid mechanics, i.e. from the engineering fields (aero- and gas- and hydrodynamics, hydraulics, heat transfer and two-phase flows) as well as from geophysics (environmental flows, boundary-layer meteorology). The relevant solutions are developed from the fundamental equations, but are kept simple for transparency and understanding. To achieve this, the simplifications offered by scaling, similarity and entrainment concepts are used extensively. Many of the solutions are novel but have been confirmed by laboratory experiments. The material in the book has been used as a teaching text on Master's level, but the content will be useful also for practising engineers and scientists engaged in safety and environmental impact. The problems considered have been encountered in consultancy work for industry and government agencies. The coherent presentation and the fundamental basis for analytical developments, makes the material accessible also to readers not acquainted with the field.

1. The role of fluid mechanics in safety and environmental protection. 2. Properties and phenomena characterizing nonhomogeneous flows. 3. Steady and quasi-steady outflow due to gravity. 4. Unsteady outflow driven by gravity. 5. Outflow from pressurized containers and pipelines. 6. Liquid spills on the ground - spreading and evaporation. 7. Liquid spills on water - the problem of oil pollution. 8. Unsteady diffusion from a finite volume. 9. Passive dispersion from steady sources in a turbulent environment. 10. Steady and unsteady buoyant releases in the atmosphere. 11. Jets and plumes in crossflow. 12. Gravity-driven flows with large changes in buoyancy. 13. Heavy-gas dispersion in the laboratory and in the atmosphere. 14. The effects of plume-surface interactions. 15. Fire, combustion processes and combustion waves. 16. Explosions and pressure waves. 17. Theoretical solutions for strong explosions. 18. Damage criteria and damage assessment. Author index. Subject index.