Gas outflow from an underground site – Numerical simulations into baric tendency and airflow rate relationship

Gas emissions from underground sites to the atmosphere depend on many factors. Pressure drops are considered to be the most important. However, emissions can also be observed during the initial phase of the pressure rise, following a previous drop in pressure. On the other hand, gas emissions may not be detected when the pressure drops, especially when a previous pressure rise has taken place. The aim of the research was to determine the role of variations in baric tendency on airflow rate and its direction. To solve this problem a numerical model was built utilizing the Ansys Fluent software package. Subsequently, three scenarios of baric tendency variations were tested: a) rise – drop, b) drop – drop, c) drop – rise. The results showed inert behavior of gases. Under scenario (c), 1 hour after the change in tendency gases still were flowing out to the atmosphere. Considering scenario (a), it was proved that even during a pressure drop gas emissions do not take place, which can be crucial for further determination of the gas hazard at the surface or for assessment of the rate of gas emissions from a particular gas emitter. Scenario (b) merely gave an overview of the process and was mainly used for validation purposes. It gave a maximal CO₂ concentration of 2.18%vol (comparable to measurements) and a CO₂ mass flow rate 0.15kg/s. Taking into account greenhouse gas emissions this amounted to 514 kg CO₂/h.