Inclusion of Increased Air Turbulence Caused by Coke Production into Atmospheric Propagation Modelling

Gaussian plume models are still used in cases where short-distance, routine calculations have to be done. They use universal parameters to parameterise the atmospheric-and earth–surface impact on the dispersion of air pollutants that can produce satisfactory results in overall conditions. This is not the case in the place-specific applications, when standard models do not reflect all of the mechanisms involved in local dispersion phenomena. This limitation applies in particular to atypical objects which are characterised by high thermal and mechanical turbulence being introduced into the air. Such places form locally distinctive air turbulence reflected by specific vertical wind speed profiles. Based on the knowledge of their shape, the turbulence and diffusion intensity information may be transferred to the propagation model. The analysis of the wind profiles measured in the vicinity of the big coking plant is presented in this paper. The wind profiles’ exponent values which had been obtained on this basis were compared with the values used with standard models. Also, measured marker–gas concentrations have been related to values calculated with the use of the model equipped with modified exponents as well as to the values obtained from the traditional model.