Date of Award

12-1997

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Mathematics and Statistics

First Advisor

Dennis W. Quinn, PhD

Abstract

Space launches at Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS) and Vandenberg Air Force Base (vAFB) produce exhaust ground clouds from the solid rocket boosters and liquid hypergolic fuels containing several toxic substances. In order to estimate the health effects that would be imposed upon the public by scheduled launches, range safety officials rely on the Rocket Exhaust Effluent Diffusion Model to predict ground level concentrations of these substances. A drawback to the REEDM is its underprediction of the initial ground clouds stabilization height. This underprediction causes an overprediction of the ground level toxic substance concentrations. This thesis focused on increasing the accuracy of the clouds stabilization height. Therefore, a model was developed incorporating conservation principles of volume, momentum, and buoyancy to predict stabilization height values. As part of the model a predictive function for the coefficient of entrainment was developed based on meteorological conditions. This rate of entrainment is a critical factor in accurately predicting the rise behavior of ground exhaust clouds.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GEE-ENC-97D-01

DTIC Accession Number

ADA334357

Download

Share

COinS