Ling, Young ErnThe dispersions of smoke or hazardous materials during accidental releases are of concern in many practical applications. A technique combining salt-water modeling and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is developed to study the dispersion of a buoyant plume in a complex configuration. Salt-water modeling based on the analogy between salt-water flow and fire induced flow has proven to be a successful method for the qualitative analysis of fire induced plumes. With the use of PIV, detailed measurements of the velocity field can be taken for quantitative analysis of the plume behavior. The technique is first validated for a canonical unconfined plume scenario by comparing the results with theory and previous experimental data, and subsequently extended to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze plume dispersion in a crossflow with the construction of a crossflow generation system for the salt-water modeling facility. Lastly, plume dispersion in a crossflow near a building is analyzed.en-USThesisEngineering, Mechanicalsalt water modelingplume dispersion in crossflowdispersion near buildingplume in crossflowwind dispersionflow visualization;