IJCRR - 3(11), November, 2011
Pages: 49-52
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INDUSTRIAL SOURCE COMPLEX SHORT TERM MODEL OF ATMOSPHERIC DISPERSION FOR AN
INDUSTRIAL STACK
Author: G. Geetha, R. Samuel Selvaraj
Category: General Sciences
Abstract:As an air pollutant is transported from a source to a potential receptor the pollutant disperses
into the surrounding air so that it arrives at a much lower concentration than it was on leaving
the source. Strict environmental regulations worldwide resulted in an ever growing concern
about the validity and reliability of air quality dispersion models. The present work is a try to
evaluate the applicability of Industrial source complex short term dispersion Gaussian model to
an industrial source. The object of the model is to relate mathematically the effects of source
emissions on ground level concentrations, and to calculate the concentration of the pollutants at
various receptor grid points. Computation of the model with the meteorological parameters
yields very good prediction of the pollutants emitted by the plume stacks.
Keywords: Modeling; dispersion; air pollutant; Gaussian model; meteorological parameters
Full Text:
INTRODUCTION
The concentration of an air pollutant released from a stack is a function of a number of variables, including the emission rate, the distance of the receptor from the source, and the atmospheric conditions [1]. The most important atmospheric conditions are wind speed, wind direction, and the vertical temperature structure of the local atmosphere. If the temperature decreases with height at a rate higher than the adiabatic lapse rate, the atmosphere is in unstable equilibrium and vertical motions are enhanced [2]. This is to keep pollution concentrations moderate or weak at ground level. But, if the temperature decreases with height at a rate lower than the adiabatic lapse rate (stable atmosphere) or increases with height (inversion), vertical motions are reduced or damped. This will lead to potentially high pollution concentrations. This dispersion model uses the Gaussian plume idea, which also is a material balance model. In it, one considers a point source such as a factory [3] smokestack (which is not really a point but a small area that can be satisfactorily approximated as a point) and attempts to compute the downwind concentration resulting from this point source. The contaminated gas stream [4] (normally called a plume) is shown rising from the smokestack and then levelling off to travel in the x direction and spreading in the y and z directions as it travels. Such plumes normally rise a considerable distance above the smokestack because they are emitted at temperatures higher
THE INDUSTRIAL SOURCE COMPLEX (ISC) SHORT TERM MODEL
The ISC Short Term Model accepts hourly meteorological data records to define the conditions for plume rise, transport, diffusion, and deposition. The model estimates the concentration or deposition value for each source and receptor combination of input meteorology, and calculates user-selected short-term averages. The user also has the option of selecting averages for the entire period of input meteorology
Input data ISC short term version required two sets of data: source data and hourly averaged meteorological data:
Source data
(i) Dimensions of the source
(ii) Emission discharge rate
(iii)Release height of the emission source
Meteorological data
(i) Ambient temperature, K
(ii) Wind direction
(iii) Wind speed, m/s
(iv) Atmospheric stability classes (A through F)
(v) Urban and rural mixing height
MODELING SOFTWARE
The Visual Basic program calculates the sources and the conditions of the atmosphere. The system of simulation of processes of dispersion that has, offers to the beginner and the expert programmer, a quick and practical system to evaluate the dispersion of pollutants in the air. The program is based on the operating system VISUAL BASIC WINDOWS where one works intensively with the mouse and the graphic windows. We can say, with a certain security that the software Visual Basic is one of the best tools, to carry out numeric simulations of air pollution processes. After feeding meteorological values the above programme calculates the concentration of the pollutants at various grid levels.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Several receptors have been chosen to evaluate the concentration of the pollutants at various receptor grid points. Figure -1
shows the programme screen display of ISC3ST model. By feeding the various meteorological parameters such as wind velocity, wind direction, ambient temperature and the source data -stack height, stack diameter, stack gas temperature, stack gas velocity and emission rate the concentration of the pollutant at final grid point is calculated and stored in the ISC3ST result file.
CONCLUSION
The model introduced here is a Gaussian frame work, with simple algorithm, low demand for CPU and pre-processing time, no resolution or diffusion errors, the ability to calculate the concentration of values at different grid points are very accurate. Therefore, it shows a better performance better than the other Gaussian models. Hence, it is concluded that SC3ST model can be used for all industrial stacks to calculate the concentration of the pollutants at various grid points.
References:
1. Melli P., Runca E., ?Gaussian plume model parameters for ground-level and elevated sources derived from the atmospheric diffusion equation in a neutral case?, Journal of Applied Meteorology, Vol.18, No.9, 1979, pp.1216- 1221
2. Miller C. W., Hively L. M., ?A review of validation studies for the Gaussian plume atmospheric dispersion model?, Nuclear Safety, Vol.28, No.4, 1987, pp.522-531
3. Benarie M. M., ?The limits of air pollution modeling?, Atmospheric Environment, Vol.21, 1987, pp.1-5.
4. Beychok M. R., ?Fundamentals of stack gas dispersion?, Irvine, California, U.S.A., 1995
5. Liu H., Zhang B., Sang J., and Cheng A.Y., ?A laboratory simulation of plume dispersion in stratified atmospheres over complex terrain?,Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, Vol. 89, Iss. 1, 2001, pp. 1-15
6. Sutton O. G., ?A theory of eddy diffusion in the atmosphere?, Proc. Roy. Soc. London, A, 135, 1932, pp.143-165.
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