A Study on Plume Dispersion Characteristics of Two Discrete Plume Stacks for Negative Temperature Gradient Conditions

Journal Article (2021)
Author(s)

Hrishikesh Sivanandan (Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore, TU Delft - Flow Physics and Technology)

V. Ratna Kishore (Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore)

Mukesh Goel (Sheffield Hallam University)

Abhishek Asthana (Sheffield Hallam University)

Faculty
Aerospace Engineering
Copyright
© 2021 H. Sivanandan, V. Ratna Kishore, Mukesh Goel, Abhishek Asthana
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-020-09747-1
More Info
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Publication Year
2021
Language
English
Copyright
© 2021 H. Sivanandan, V. Ratna Kishore, Mukesh Goel, Abhishek Asthana
Faculty
Aerospace Engineering
Issue number
3
Volume number
26
Pages (from-to)
405-422
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Abstract

The dispersion of air pollutants emitted from industries has been studied ever since the dawn of industrialisation. The present work focuses on investigating the effect of negative atmospheric temperature gradient and the plume stack orientation of two individual equal-height stacks on the vertical rise and dispersion of the plume. The study carried out upon three-stack layout configurations namely inline, 45° and non-inline, separated by an inter-stack distance of 12 times the exit chimney diameter (12 D) and 22 times the exit chimney diameter (22 D) in each case over the two temperature gradients of −0.2 K/100 m and −0.5 K/100 m. The turbulence is modelled using realisable k-ε model, a model used in the FLUENT flow solver. In the case of the inline configuration, the upwind plume shields its downwind counterpart, which in turn allows for higher plume rise at a given temperature gradient. The plume oscillates more in the case of inline than 45° and non-inline cases. Also, for a temperature gradient of −0.5 K/100 m, the plumes oscillate violently in the vertical direction, mainly because, with the initial rise of the plume, cold air from higher altitudes moves down and forms a layer of lower temperature closer to the ground. The present study is important to highlight the plume dispersion characteristics under negative temperature gradient conditions.