Physical scale modelling of adhered spill plume entrainment

This work provides new experimental data to characterise entrainment of air into adhered thermal spill plumes using physical scale modelling. For the two-dimensional plume, the rate of entrainment with respect to height of rise is approximately half that of an equivalent two-dimensional balcony spill plume. For the three-dimensional plume, the rate of entrainment appears to be linked to the plume behaviour, which has been characterised in terms of the width and depth of the layer flow below the spill edge. In general, a layer flow below the spill edge that is shallow compared to its width will tend to adhere to the wall above the opening compared to flows whose depth approaches its width. This work proposes new empirical entrainment design formulae that have been developed on a more general basis compared to existing methods. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.