ADVANCED COMPUTER SIMULATIONS OF MILITARY INCINERATORS

Incineration is one of the technologies being used by the US Army to destroy the highly toxic chemical agents and munitions contained within the Chemical Weapons Stockpile. In this paper we describe a suite of models for conducting detailed simulations of chemical demilitarization incinerator operation. The models contain 3D furnace and canister geometries and all of the relevant physics and chemistry. The destruction of chemical agent is predicted using non-equilibrium chemistry models. Models have been developed for a Liquid Incinerator, Metal Parts Furnace, and a Deactivation Furnace System. Using computational chemistry methods, chemical kinetics have been developed that describe the incineration of organo-phosphorus nerve agent (GB, VX) and sulfur mustard (H, HD, HT). The models have been used to study a variety of scenarios to develop a deeper understanding of furnace operation and agent destruction when processing munitions or equipment containing or contaminated by chemical agent. Model results demonstrate the incinerators to be robust systems that destroy chemical agent in a safe and efficient manner.