Effects of flattening the stockpile crest and of the presence of buildings on dust emissions from industrial open storage systems

Abstract

On industrial sites, fugitive dust emissions from open storage systems for bulk materials, such as coal or iron, represent a significant part of overall estimated particle emissions and can lead to environmental and health risks. The aeolian erosion process depends strongly on the turbulent flow structure over the stockpiles and is significantly conditioned by the topography of the site, the wind direction and intensity and also the shape of the stockpiles. This paper presents wind flow structures obtained by three-dimensional numerical simulations for various stockpile configurations and for a global industrial site simulation with different wind directions. The first aspect investigated by these simulations is the effect caused by the flattening of the stockpile crest on dust emissions. This study provides information to industrials on the best geometrical pile characteristics of an oblong shape pile configuration in order to limit particles emissions. The second aspect investigated in this study is the wind exposure over stockpiles while considering its environment on an industrial site. This study highlights the influence of the presence of surrounding buildings or stockpiles on the real exposure of granular materials, and will allow a more accurate evaluation of fugitive dust emissions on industrial sites. © 2009 WIT Press.