A Model for Spreading of Leaked Gas in Soil

Abstract

A distribution equation for predicting current ranges of propane gas resulting from a breaken pipe in a soil is derived by the application of a diffusion equation When both the rate Q of gas leak and the porosity ε of the soil are constant, the gas concentration p can be predicted by

where x is a horizontal distance from the leak point, t the leak time and the diffusion coefiicient D is assumed to be constant during the leak. The predicted variation of p is compared with that observed in the experiment using a He-Ne LASER gas detector. The agreement is satisfactory.