The Columbia River in Washington State is threatened by the radioactive legacy of the cold war. Two hundred thousand cubic meters (fifty-three million US gallons) of radioactive waste is stored in 177 underground tanks (60% of the Nation’s radioactive waste). A vast complex of waste treatment facilities is being built to convert this waste into stable glass (vitrification). The waste in these underground tanks is a combination of sludge, slurry, and liquid. The waste will be transported to a pre-treatment facility where it will be processed before vitrification. It is necessary to keep the solids in suspension during processing. The mixing devices selected for this task are known as pulse-jet mixers (PJMs). PJMs cyclically empty and refill with the contents of the vessel to keep it mixed. The transient operation of the PJMs has been proven successful in a number of applications, but needs additional evaluation to be proven effective for the slurries and requirements at the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP). Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models of mixing vessels have been developed to demonstrate the ability of the PJMs to meet mixing criteria. Experimental studies have been performed to validate these models. These tests show good agreement with the transient multiphase CFD models developed for this engineering challenge.
There is a need for information on dispersion and infiltration of chemical and biological agents in complex building environments. A recent collaborative study conducted at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) and Bechtel Corporation Research and Development had the objective of assessing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models for simulation of flow around complicated buildings through a comparison of experimental and numerical results. The test facility used in the experiments was INEEL's unique large Matched-Index-of-Refraction (MIR) flow system. The CFD code used for modeling was Fluent, a widely available commercial flow simulation package. For the experiment, a building plan was selected to approximately represent an existing facility. It was found that predicted velocity profiles from above the building and in front of the building were in good agreement with the measurements.
The Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) at Hanford, WA will vitrify nuclear waste stored at the DOE Hanford facility. The vitrification process will take place in two large concrete buildings where the glass is poured into stainless steel canisters or containers and allowed to cool. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used extensively to calculate the effects of the heat released by molten glass as it is poured and cooled, on the HVAC system and the building structure. CFD studies of the glass cooling in these facilities were used to predict canister temperatures, HVAC air temperatures, concrete temperatures and insulation requirements, and design temperatures for canister handling equipment and instrumentation at various stages of the process. These predictions provided critical input in the design of the HVAC system, specification of insulation, the design of canister handling equipment, and the selection of instrumentation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.