Impact of inlet boundary number and locations on gas diffusion and flow in a typical chemical industrial park near uneven terrain

Abstract

Accurate simulation of pollution diffusion under uneven terrain with complicated obstacles is a difficult but important scientific and technological issue. The inlet-boundary was important and single boundary meteorological factors (e.g., wind direction and speed) input were generally employed for the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. However, for uneven terrain with complicated obstacles, the boundary meteorological condition may be quite different, single boundary input may bring large simulation uncertainty. Consequently, the impact of different inlet boundary number and locations on CFD simulation was investigated based on a scarce tracer-gas field experiment carried out in a chemical industrial park located in a mountainous area. The experimental results implied gas diffusion was influenced by a combination of meteorological conditions from multi-inlet boundaries. The simulation results confirmed that and indicated commonly-used single-inlet boundary input can bring great inaccuracies. The case of inlet boundaries closed to emission sources and intersected the crosswind plane agreed best with measurements. It was also found that the inlet boundary number and locations significantly influence velocity and turbulence. Finally, a guideline for determining the inlet boundaries was proposed. This study can enhance the understanding on CFD simulation, and is beneficial for the selection of inlet meteorological sites to precise prediction.