Variation of short-lived beta radionuclide (radon progeny) concentrations and the mixing processes in the atmospheric boundary layer

Radon is emitted to the atmosphere with quasi constant emission rates depending on the radium concentration in the earth's crust and soil physical properties. In this way, the ²²²Rn and ²²⁰Rn concentration in air reflects significantly the thickness of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). The aerosol-associated, beta-emitting progeny nuclides of ²²²Rn were measured daily in the framework of the atmospheric radioactivity monitoring program of NIMH at Sofia. The ²¹⁴Pb concentration was estimated from the measured short-lived beta activity of 24-h filter samples, changed daily at 6:00 GMT. The impact of some meteorological factors such as wind direction, wind velocity, humidity, and temperature on short-lived beta radionuclides is estimated, and the results show no simple statistical relationship. A seasonal pattern was observed with winter minima and late summer-early autumn maxima. High variability in daily morning concentrations and mean monthly values was observed. There were well pronounced differences between years. The height of the convective ABL was estimated from daily radio-soundings at 12:00 GMT for the period 2001-2006 and from seven soundings per day during the experimental campaign in Sofia in October 2003. In general, concentrations of short-lived ²²²Rn progeny nuclides decreased with increased convective ABL height.     

Application of fuzzy logic to explosion risk assessment

Safety and health of workers potentially being at risk from explosive atmospheres are regulated by separate regulations (ANSI/AIHA in USA and ATEX in the European Union). The ANSI/AIHA does not require risk assessment whereas it is compulsory for ATEX. There is no standard method to do that assessment. For that purpose we have applied the explosion Layer of Protection Analysis (ExLOPA), which enables semi-quantitative risk assessment for process plants where explosive atmospheres occur. The ExLOPA is based on the original work of CCPS for LOPA taking into account an explosion accident scenario at workplace. That includes typical variables appropriate for workplace explosion like occurrence of the explosive atmosphere, the presence of effective ignition sources, activity of the explosion prevention and mitigation independent protection layers as well as the severity of consequences. All those variables are expressed in the form of qualitative linguistic categories and relations between them are presented using expert based engineering knowledge, expressed in the form of appropriate set of rules. In this way the category of explosion risk may be estimated by the semi-quantitative analysis. However, this simplified method is connected with essential uncertainties providing over or under estimation of the explosion risk and may not provide real output data.In order to overcome this problem and receive more detailed quantitative results, the fuzzy logic system was applied. In the first stage called fuzzification, all linguistic categories of the variables are mapped by fuzzy sets. In the second stage, the number of relation between all variables of analysis are determined by the enumerative combinatorics and the set of the 810 fuzzy rules “IF-THEN” is received. Each rule enables determination of the fuzzy risk level for a particular accident scenario. In the last stage, called defuzzification, the crisp value of final risk is obtained using a centroid method. The final result of the risk presents a contribution of each risk category represented by the fuzzy sets (A, TA, TNA and NA) and is therefore more precise and readable than the traditional approach producing one category of risk only. Fuzzy logic gives a possibility of better insights into hazards and safety phenomena for each explosion risk scenario. It is not possible to receive such conclusions from the traditional ExLOPA calculation results. However it requires the application of computer-aided analyses which may be partially in conflict with a simplicity of ExLOPA.The practical example provides a comparison between the traditional results obtained by ExLOPA and by fuzzy ExLOPA methods.     

The effects of phosphorus-free inhibitors on the ignition of lycopodium dust

The minimum ignition temperature of dust suspension (MIT) and the hot surface ignition temperature of the dust layer (LIT) are essential safety parameters for the process industry. However, the knowledge of the ignition behavior when solid mixtures of flammable fuels and phosphorous-free inhibitors are considered is still scarce and further experimental and theoretical analyses are requested. In this work, the ignition temperature of phosphorous-free inhibitors (coal fly ash and calcium carbonate) mixed with lycopodium dust have been studied in terms of LIT analysis (hot plate thickness: 5 mm, 12.5 mm and 15 mm), and by the Godbert-Greenwald test for the MIT. Both coal fly ash and calcium carbonate have been tested at different concentrations and particle sizes.Results show that the effects of the inhibitor can be counter-productive when layer ignition temperature is considered even if the minimum ignition temperature of the dust suspension shows a positive effect from the safety point of view. This behavior has been analyzed in the terms of thermal conductivity and diffusivity of the mixture, by using Maxwell's equation for two-phase solid mixtures. Standard empirical correlations for the ignition temperature of solid mixtures have been also tested, showing their weakness in reproducing mixture behavior.     

安全系统安全完整性等级确定方法比较研究

安全完整性等级的确定是开发和设计安全相关系统的前提和基础。为避免因方法选择不当而导致安全完整性等级确定不恰当的问题,针对常用的后果法、风险矩阵法、改进的HAZOP法、风险图法、保护层分析法和定量分析法进行了对比研究。在阐述和分析安全完整性等级内涵及其确定原理的基础上,根据每种方法自身的特点,从准确性、可量化性、工作量和运用的难易程度等方面对其进行了对比和研究,并分析和探讨了选择安全完整性等级确定方法时应重点考虑的因素。研究结果对合理选择安全完整性等级确定方法具有一定的实用价值和借鉴意义。     

基于超媒体技术的建筑火灾数据编辑器

本文介绍了一种基于超媒体技术的建筑火灾数据编辑器基本原理和实现方法,该编辑器是建筑物火灾危险度评估系统的一个组成部分。     

保护层分析(LOPA)中的独立保护层探讨

介绍了保护层分析(LOPA)的基本原理及独立保护层(IPL),讨论过程工业各种典型保护层满足IPL的条件和确定初始事件失效概率(PFD)的原则。在实际运用中,应谨慎识别和确定各种IPL及其PFD,防止IPL虚假使用、重复使用和确定过高或过低的PFD。     

Numerical study of the effects of Planetary Boundary Layer structure on the pollutant dispersion within built-up areas

The effects of different Planetary Boundary Layer(PBL) structures on pollutant dispersion processes within two idealized street canyon configurations and a realistic urban area were numerically examined by a Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) model. The boundary conditions of different PBL structures/conditions were provided by simulations of the Weather Researching and Forecasting model. The simulated results of the idealized 2D and 3D street canyon experiments showed that the increment of PBL instability favored the downward transport of momentum from the upper flow above the roof to the pedestrian level within the street canyon. As a result, the flow and turbulent fields within the street canyon under the more unstable PBL condition are stronger. Therefore, more pollutants within the street canyon would be removed by the stronger advection and turbulent diffusion processes under the unstable PBL condition. On the contrary, more pollutants would be concentrated in the street canyon under the stable PBL condition. In addition, the simulations of the realistic building cluster experiments showed that the density of buildings was a crucial factor determining the dynamic effects of the PBL structure on the flow patterns. The momentum field within a denser building configuration was mostly transported from the upper flow, and was more sensitive to the PBL structures than that of the sparser building configuration. Finally, it was recommended to use the Mellor–Yamada–Nakanishi–Niino(MYNN) PBL scheme, which can explicitly output the needed turbulent variables, to provide the boundary conditions to the CFD simulation.