Prepocessing Aspects

of Modelling
Haryo Tomo

Sources of Air Pollution in Smaller City

1. Point Source : Small/home industry
(Ceramics, Bricks, Limestone, etc)
2. Mobile Source : Car and motorcycle.
3. Area Source: Household-kitchen, garbage
burning, straw burning, final disposal.

Method of Emission Estimation

Direct measurement (Tier 2).
Using emission factor based on activity if no
emission data (Tier 1)
E= EF x AD x (100-CE)/100
Where

E:
EF:
AD:
CE:

Emission Load
Emission Factor
Activity Data
Control Efficiency

Plume Rise
Buoyant plume: Initial buoyancy >> initial momentum
Forced plume: Initial buoyancy ~ initial momentum
Jet:
Initial buoyancy << initial momentum

For neutral and unstable atmospheric conditions,

buoyant rise can be calculated by
21.425F 0.75
hplumerise
(F 55 m 4 / s 3 )
u
38.71F 0.6
hplume rise
(F 55 m 4 / s 3 )
u
Vs: Stack exit velocity, m/s
where buoyancy flux is
d: top inside stack diameter, m
Ts: stack gas temperature, K
2
F gVs d (Ts Ta ) / 4TS Ta: ambient temperature, K
g: gravity, 9.8 m/s2
2/14/2013

Carson and Moses: vertical momentum & thermal buoyancy,

based on 615 observations involving 26 stacks.

Qh
Vs d
h plume rise 3.47
5.15
u
u
Qh
Vs d
h plume rise 0.35
2.64
u
u
Qh
Vs d
h plume rise 1.04
2.24
u
u

C p Ts Ta
Qh m

(unstable)
(neutral)
(stable)

(heat emission rate, kJ/s)

d 2

P
m
Vs
MW (stack gas mass flow rate. kg/s)
4
RTs
When pollutants are dispersed to the ground level, how
should we handle the situation?

2/14/2013

Spatial scales and relevant pollutants

Microscale (10 to 100 m) and Middle-scale (100 to 500
m) odors, dust, traffic, hazardous pollutants.
Neighborhood scale (500 m to 4 km) vehicle exhaust,
residential heating and burning, primary industrial
emissions.
Urban scale (4 to 100 km) ozone, secondary sulfates
and nitrates, forest fires, regional haze.
Continental scale (1,000 to 10,000 km) Asian and
Saharan dust, large scale fires.
Global scale (> 10,000 km) greenhouse gases,
halocarbons, black carbon.
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Plume Boundary

Plume Dispersion by Gaussian Distribution and Coordinate System

Typical Velocity, and Plume Shapes

However, real conditions are quite complex. First: Need to know wind
aloft virtually no continuous measurements

Complex horizontal, vertical, and temporal wind structure

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Next: In most of cases we are not dealing with flat terrain topographic
complexity

Complex horizontal, vertical, and temporal dispersion

12

Next: Topographic complexity induces local flows and circulations

Complex horizontal, vertical, and temporal dispersion

13

Building downwash for two identical plumes emitted at different

locations

The stack on the left is located on top of a building and this structure
impacts on the wind-flow which, in turn, impacts upon the plume
dispersion, pulling it down into the cavity zone behind the building. The
stack on the right is located far enough downwind of the building to be
unaffected by the wake effects and is not as dispersed in the near field.
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Next: Interaction between plumes of different buoyancy and an

inversion layer

Complex horizontal, vertical, and temporal dispersion

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The simplest dispersion modeling Gaussian approximation for the

plume spread

Not applicable to regional scales complex terrain, convective

conditions, and ground-level sources.
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Limitations of Gaussian-plume models

Causality effects
Gaussian-plume models assume pollutant material is transported
in a straight line instantly (like a beam of light) to receptors that
may be several hours or more in transport time away from the
source.
Low wind speeds
Gaussian-plume models 'break down' during low wind speed or
calm conditions due to the inverse wind speed dependence of the
steady-state plume equation, and this limits their application.
Straight-line trajectories
In moderate terrain areas, these models will typically
overestimate terrain impingement effects during stable
conditions because they do not account for turning or rising wind
caused by the terrain itself. CTDM and SCREEN are designed to
address this issue.
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Limitations of Gaussian-plume models

Spatially uniform meteorological conditions
Gaussian steady-state models have to assume that the
atmosphere is uniform across the entire modelling
domain, and that transport and dispersion conditions
exist unchanged long enough for the material to reach
the receptor.

Convective conditions are one example of a nonuniform meteorological state that Gaussian-plume
models cannot emulate.
No memory of previous hour's emissions
In calculating each hour's ground-level concentration
the plume model has no memory of the contaminants
released during the previous hour(s).
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Advanced dispersion models (I)

Puff models
Pollutant releases can also be represented by a series of
puffs of material which are also transported by the
model winds. Each puff represents a discrete amount of
pollution, whose volume increases due to turbulent
mixing. Puff models are far less computationally
expensive than particle models, but are not as realistic
in their description of the pollutant distribution.
Puff models

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Advanced dispersion models (II)

Eulerian grid models
Pollutant distributions are represented by
concentrations on a (regular) three-dimensional grid of
points. Difficulties arise when the scale of the pollutant
release is smaller than the grid point spacing. The
simulation of chemical transformations is most
straightforward in a Eulerian grid model.
Eulerian Chemical Model:
o-1 3 4
2

1
8

o-3
7

[O 3]
[NO2]

o-2

6
o-4

[NO]

[VOC]
[HN4NO3 ]

...

o-1 3 4
2

1
8

o-3

9 o-6

o-2
6
o-4
o-5

Chemical transformations
will be made on a Eularian
grid.
Enables interactions
between emissions from
different sources.
Includes gas and aqueous
phase chemistry and
secondary aerosol
formation.

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Advanced dispersion models (III)

Lagrangian particles
Pollutant releases, especially those from point sources, are
often represented by a stream of particles (even if the
pollutant is a gas), which are transported by the model
winds and diffuse randomly according to the model
turbulence. Particle models are computationally expensive,
needing about millions or so particles to represent a
pollutant release, but may be the best type to represent
pollutant concentrations close to the source.

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