Simulation of the evaporation of a cyclohexane pool using Scilab. Evaluation of the most influential variables

Abstract

The growth on the number of large industrial facilities has an impact on the number of technological accidents recorded. The spill of a volatile substance can trigger different undesired events according to the environmental conditions, one of them being the evaporation and formation of toxic/flammable and/or explosive clouds. In this work, a rigorous model to study the expansion and evaporation of the pool formed by a cyclohexane spill is implemented, with the aim of evaluating and determining the most influential variables on the calculation of the evaporation rate; the model used is “gas Accumulation Over Spreading Pools” (GASP) which is complemented by energy balances. Through the consideration of different accidental scenarios, the important incidence of the wind speed endorsed by the soil temperature is deduced. At the same time, as expected, an important factor in the problem is the leakage rate, noting a high emission to the atmosphere.