Review of the ALOHA code pool evaporation model

The ALOHA computer code determines the evaporative mass transfer rate from a liquid pool by solving the conservation of mass and energy equations associated with the pool. As part of the solution of the conservation of energy equation, the heat flux from the ground to the pool is calculated. The model used in the ALOHA code is based on the solution of the temperature profile for a one-dimensional semi-infinite slab. This model is only valid for cases in which the boundary condition (pool temperature) is held constant. Thus, when the pool material temperature is not constant, the ALOHA ground-to-pool heat flux calculation may result in a non-conservative evaporation rate. The analytical solution for the temperature profile of a one-dimensional semi-infinite slab with a time-dependent boundary condition requires a priori knowledge of the boundary condition. Lacking such knowledge, a time-dependent finite-difference solution for the ground temperature profile was developed. The temperature gradient, and thus the ground-to-pool heat flux, at the ground-pool interface is determined from the results of the finite-difference solution. The evaporation rates over the conditions sampled using the ALOHA ground-to-pool heat flux model were up to 15% lower than those generated when the finite-difference model to calculate ground-to-pool heat flux. Overall ALOHA code estimates may compensate by judicious selection of input parameters and assumptions. Application to safety analyses thus must be performed cautiously to ensure that estimated chemical source term and its attendant downwind concentrations are bounding