Computer simulation helped Westinghouse Safety Management Solutions (WSMS) engineers demonstrate that benzene mixing within a large vapor space would proceed quickly enough to prevent the formation of a significant volume of gas above the lower flammability limit (LFL). This issue arose in the licensing of a nuclear waste processing operation that produced benzene as a byproduct. While experimental methods could only measure benzene concentration at a few discrete points, computational fluid dynamics measured it throughout the vapor space as a function of time. The analysis correlated well with physical measurements.

Westinghouse Safety Management Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC). WSRC is the prime contractor for the DOE Savannah River site in Aiken, SC, and performs all types of safety work for the DOE facilities around the country.