Addressing waste disposal fires in open fields through large eddy simulations

Addressing fires in waste disposal facilities is of topical interest for firefighting and environmental protection. Statistics of fires that involve fuel matrixes made of diversified wastes are escalating and ask for an effective response, both in prevention and mitigation. Crucial to this target is the consideration of underlying phenomena, and modeling of fire dynamics and pollutant emission also via robust numerical simulations. In this work, fires in waste disposal facilities are addressed with Large Eddy Simulation to test the capability to catch the main phenomena of the combustion of wastes made of plastic and the consequent emission of pollutants. This approach is applied to fuel matrixes in form of piles of different sizes, made of polyolefins and polyvinylchloride burned in an open field. The atmospheric dispersion of pollutants, including soot, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen chloride are investigated under different environmental conditions. Besides, thermal aspects are addressed to come up with indications of the heat release rate.