DISPERSION MODELING OF A TALL STACK PLUME IN THE SPANISH MEDITERRANEAN COAST BY A PARTICLE MODEL

A Lagrangian particle model has been used to simulate the dispersion o f a tall stack plume of a power plant located in a complex coastal sit e at the Spanish Mediterranean coast, under summer meteorological cond itions: land and sea breezes and thermal low effects. These are respon sible for a particular behavior of plume (rotations greater than 90 de grees). The model is based on the numerical solution of Langevin's equ ation (Sawford, 1984; Thomson, 1984, 1987; de Baas el al., 1986) by fo llowing the trajectories of many particles. The displacement of these particles is governed by meteorological parameters resulting from Eule rian wind data adjusted by an objective analysis model based on variat ional calculus. The adjusted values should satisfy continuity as a str ong constraint(Sherman, 1978; Mathur and Peters, 1990). The model allo ws to simulate the atmospheric dispersion both in homogeneous and nonh omogeneous turbulence according to de Baas et al. (1986) and Zannetti (1990) schemes. The numerical results obtained by the dispersion model are compared with experimental data from a measurement campaign devel oped at the surroundings of Castellon power plant. The model is applie d to the problem of predicting the ground level concentration (GLC) (3 m, above ground level) of the SO, emitted by the power plant. Model b ehavior was evaluated through several statistical indices: relative me an bias, normalized mean square error and the cumulative frequency dis tribution ratio between observed and predicted concentrations. Both mo dels were developed at the Institute de Tecnologia y Modelizacion Ambi ental (ITEMA) of the Universidad Politecnica de Cataluna (UPC).