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An investigation into air quality, with an emphasis on the design and development of a numerical model for the transport of gaseous and particulate pollutants in airborne and deposited matter

A thesis is presented which reports on an investigation into air quality with an emphasis on the design and development of a numerical model for the transport of gaseous and particulate pollutants in airborne and deposited matter. The reported programme of research was undertaken with the dual aim of; establishing a programme of monitoring in order that ambient concentrations of selected air pollutants, released from various sources proximate to the Dundee area, could be quantified and assessed; and implementing the design, development and verification of a computational prototype model for the simulation of short term air pollutant transport using available Personnal Computer (PC) technology. Four monitoring programmes were successfully undertaken and reported on during the course of research. Three of the monitoring programmes were concerned with the quantification and assessment of ambient concentrations of traffic related pollutants in and around urban areas within the City of Dundee, Scotland. The fourth monitoring programme reports on the quantification and assessment of the potential environmental impact of the Baldovie Municipal Waste Incinerator with regards to the stack emission of the heavy metals, Cadmium (Cd) and Lead (Pb). The findings of the reported studies were found to form original contributions to local knowledge as well as to the field of air quality. Some of the finding have been published in reputable journals (Collett <i>et al</i>, (1 9 9 7 )), (Collett <i>et al</i>, (1 9 9 8 )). Also presented is a detailed report on the design, development and verification of the Short term Atmospheric Pollutant Transport Analysis Model (SAPTAM). The SAPTAM model was developed to simulate short term pollutant dispersal accounting for the effects of atmospheric stability, terrain and secondary transport dynamics, such as, dry deposition, wet deposition and chemical reactions. The model employs a simplified three dimensional Eularian wind field generator (WIFS) coupled to a Lagrangian particle in cell model (PICATS). The PICATS model simulates pollutant dispersion by releasing pseudo particles into a resolved wind field and calculating the consecutive trajectory of each particle over time. The findings of the reported research programme clearly demonstrate that the SAPTAM model, while supporting a low computational overhead and high level of description, is capable of representing pollutant dispersion over a range of scales with an acceptable level of empirical adequacy. The reported work undertaken as part of the development and verification of the SAPTAM model collectively forms an original contribution to knowledge given that the derivation and implementation of the approach on a PC based platform is completely novel.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:301729
Date January 2000
CreatorsCollett, Richard
ContributorsOduyemi, Kehinde
PublisherAbertay University
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttps://rke.abertay.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/cad1f923-bc11-4fe7-9228-0f31f7be5d33

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