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Virginia Tech

Air assessment of open burning at Radford Army Ammunition Plant

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

This project evaluates the characteristics of the open burning of NOSIH AA-2 sheet waste propellant at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant. The project considers the plume and burn characteristics, the removal of nitroglycerin from the waste, the emission of metals into the air, and the modeling of pollutant emissions from open burning. The plumes generated from open burning fall well below the mixing heights. By burning at 2:30 PM and under Army regulations, the risk of inversions is essentially eliminated. The meteorological conditions influence the duration of the burns, and a dimensionless parameter is developed in this study to correlate the conditions to the burn duration. Over 99 percent of the lead and copper in the propellant waste emits to the atmosphere. The removal efficiency of nitroglycerin in the propellant by open burning exceeds 99.9999 percent. A worst-case analysis is conducted using the Trinity INPUFF™ model. Based on this conservative estimate, the concentrations of lead, copper, and NO<sub>x</sub> compounds do not exceed the Short-Term Exposure Limits. However, the analysis exposes limitations in the model in the plume height calculations and the sampling time method.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Environmental Planning
Department dc:contributor.department
Environmental Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
1997

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Phipps, James F.

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-08252008-162740
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/44443

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Phipps, James F.. Air assessment of open burning at Radford Army Ammunition Plant. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/44443