Advanced simulation of ammonia gas dispersion in industrial environments using ANSYS CFX for enhanced safety protocols

Accidental releases of hazardous gases like ammonia present significant safety and environmental threats in industrial-urban interfaces. This study develops a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) framework using ANSYS CFX 13.0 to simulate high-pressure ammonia dispersion through realistic plant geometries. The Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) methodology implementing *k*-ϵ and Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence closures quantifies atmospheric dynamics and obstacle interactions governing plume evolution. Validation against experimental datasets confirms model fidelity in replicating spatiotemporal concentration profiles. Parametric analysis of wind velocity (0.1–4.0 m/s), release rates (0.5–2.5 kg/s) and boundary conditions demonstrates obstruction-induced dispersion pattern variations of 25%–40% versus open terrain. The framework achieves 30%–50% improvement in critical exposure zone delineation accuracy over conventional integral models. Integration of site-specific topology and meteorological data enables physics-informed safety buffer zoning (60–150 m), directly enhancing emergency-response protocols and regulatory compliance. This validated approach advances quantitative risk assessment paradigms for industrial chemical hazards, demonstrating the critical role of high-fidelity CFD in post-Bhopal safety engineering.