EXPERIMENTAL

INVESTIGATION OF
ATMOSPHERIC DIFFUSION OF
HAZARDOUS MATERIAL
MUHAMMAD ABDULLAH BUTT

SUPERVISOR
QAISAR NADEEM
OBJECTIVE

If toxic or radioactive air pollutants are released into the atmosphere they can be devastating in routine or
during an accident if not regulated. Such pollutants need atmospheric dispersion modelling for regulatory
purposes as well as emergency planning and alertness. It could aid in the decision making process for
emergency evacuation of people from disaster stricken areas.

The use of such models is required to be validated against some experimental observations. Field tracer
tests are such experimental observations. A tracer is released into the air for a specific period of time and
then air is sampled at predetermined locations to find out concentration values and check if they match
with the model’s result.

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METHODOLOGY

The Field Tracer Test is scheduled to be conducted on 17 th July 2023 and the tracer gas which will be used is
SF6 because of its stability and very less concentration in atmosphere and has only anthropogenic sources.
Release will be made through the stack outside HAPs Lab from a height of 100ft. Time slot that has been
found suitable is 13 00 hours to 16 00 hours where concentrations are forecasted to be found at maximum
receptor locations.

The Field Tracer Test mainly has two phases:

1. Planning
2. Execution

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PLANNING

• Weather Simulation using WRF

• Plume Dispersion Prediction using CALPUFF
• Selection of potential sampling points
• Sampling arcs
• Recon of sampling area
• Weather Forecasting using WRF
• Instruments availability
• Manpower availability

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WEATHER SIMULATION USING WRF
• Climate of a region is the weather conditions of that region averaged over a long period of time.
• Using climate as a reference the weather conditions averaged over a particular period of time must be
sufficient.
• The weather for the years 2020,2021 and 2022 have been simulated using NCEP FNL Operational Model
Global Tropospheric Analyses data.
• Comparison with the actual weather of the year 2023 however shows a considerable departure from
the previous years.
• So, the approach was changed and forecast data was used to predict the weather which is only available
15 days in advance.
• The limitation however is that forecast changes over this long period of time and only stabilizes very
close to the actual date.
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WEATHER
SIMULATION USING
WRF CONTD…

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WEATHER SIMULATION
USING WRF CONTD…

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WEATHER SIMULATION USING WRF CONTD…

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PLUME DISPERSION PREDICTION USING
CALPUFF

• The plume dispersion was simulated hourly from 08 00 hours to 16 00 hours for the selected date for
the three years.
• The plume shapes were studied and candidate points were marked on Google Earth.
• The parameters selected and their details are provided.

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PLUME DISPERSION PREDICTION USING
CALPUFF CONTD…
SOURCE DEFINING

• Stack Height 30.48m

• Release Rate 5g/s
• Exit Velocity 9.8 m/s
• Exit Temperature 313K
• Exit Diameter 0.45m

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PLUME DISPERSION PREDICTION USING
CALPUFF CONTD…
SOURCE DEFINING
Release Rate

• Assuming a maximum of 5m/s air velocity at the effective stack height the time taken by
air to reach farthest sampling point at 700 meters is 140 seconds which is minimal
• For safety margin starting sampling after 10 minutes of release
• 3 samples per point with 25 minutes sampling time (100mL/min) per sample including
time to change bags gives 1 hour and 15 minutes of sampling
• Accounting for departure from schedule total time for release becomes 1 hour and 45
mins
• Approximately 40kg of SF6 gas in one cylinder
• Planned duration of release taken 2 hours for safety margin
• Linear rate of release gives 5.55556 g/s
• Selected release rate 5 g/s 11
PLUME DISPERSION PREDICTION USING
CALPUFF CONTD…
SOURCE DEFINING
Entrance and Exit Velocity

• Entrance velocity was measured using an

anemometer at 21m/s
• Blower pipe’s internal diameter is 1ft
which gives a flowrate of 3247 cubic foot
per minute.
• Exit velocity was selected using graph
from Sabir Sardar’s work on “Numerical
Simulation of Flow Parameters of a Fluid
Flowing through Experimental Stack”.

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PLUME DISPERSION PREDICTION USING
CALPUFF CONTD…
SOURCE DEFINING
Entrance and Exit Temperatures
• AccuWeather forecasts the temperatures for
the month of July 2023 in the range 36
degrees-38 degrees
• Temperature at inlet of blower is taken ambient
average at 37 degrees centigrade
• The increase in air’s temperature due to
heating of stack wall has been simulated using
FLUENT 19.2 which comes out to be 3 degrees
giving an average exit temperature of 40 Entrance Exit
degrees centigrade
• Steady state achieved in 6s
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PLUME DISPERSION PREDICTION USING
CALPUFF CONTD…
SOURCE DEFINING
Entrance and Exit Temperatures

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SELECTION OF POTENTIAL SAMPLING
POINTS

• Calpuff simulations were run for 7th July 2020,2021 and 2022
• Simulations were run hourly
• Time period covered was 08 00 hours to 16 00 hours
• The plume was studied for each hour
• The plumes were then compared for common area covered
• Sampling points were marked in the area common between maximum plumes

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SELECTION OF POTENTIAL SAMPLING POINTS
CONTD…

17072020 1pm to 2 pm 17072020 2pm to 3pm

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SELECTION OF POTENTIAL SAMPLING POINTS
CONTD…

17072020 3pm to 4 pm 17072021 10am to 11am

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SELECTION OF POTENTIAL SAMPLING POINTS
CONTD…

17072021 11am to 12pm 17072021 12pm to 1pm

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SELECTION OF POTENTIAL SAMPLING POINTS
CONTD…

17072022 10am to 11am 17072022 11am to 12pm

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SELECTION OF POTENTIAL SAMPLING POINTS
CONTD…

17072022 12pm to 1pm 17072022 1pm to 2pm

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SELECTION OF POTENTIAL SAMPLING POINTS
CONTD…

17072022 2pm to 3pm 17072022 3pm to 4pm

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SELECTION OF POTENTIAL SAMPLING POINTS
CONTD…

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RECON OF SAMPLING AREA

The sampling points are all on accessible grounds and were marked keeping in mind the
accessibility. Maximum of the points are on accessible roads within PIEAS’s premises.

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WEATHER FORECAST USING WRF

• The sampling points have been marked using historical data

• The weather on the day of performance is highly probable to conform to the simulated
results with historic data
• It is however necessary to verify the results with forecast data simulated using WRF
• The forecast data will be downloaded from "National Weather Service” website
https://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/gribfilter.php?ds=gfs_0p25_1hr
• The forecast will be run everyday starting 2 weeks before the planned date as the data
available on the website is 16 days in advance i.e 3rd July 2023

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INSTRUMENTS AVAILABILITY

The experimental setup for the Field Tracer Test comprises of the following equipment:
1. Air Samplers
2. Sampling Bags
3. SF6 cylinders
4. Measuring Balance
5. Mass Flow Controller
6. 8100 VRE Sonic Anemometer

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INSTRUMENT AVAILABILITY CONTD…

Air samplers available at HAPs lab are total 64pcs out of which 37pcs are properly working 11pcs have minor
issues and 16pcs have dead batteries and are planned to be replaced with non-rechargeable batteries.
Sampling bags available at HAPs lab are 2L Tedlar Bags which are total of 264pcs plus new inventory of 1000pcs
SF6 Cylinders available at HAPs lab are 3pcs with about 45kg of gas each
Measuring Balance available at HAPs lab is the KERN DS150K1 with a least count of 1g and maximum capacity
150kg with digital interface and PC connectivity with two more under procurement
Mass Flow Controller available at HAPs lab is the Dawyer Mass Flow Controller with Aalborg TIO calibrated for
SF6 gas with digital interface and PC connectivity
Sonic Anemometer available at HAPs Lab is 8100 VRE Sonic Anemometer which can measure wind velocity,
direction and temperature with PC connectivity

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MANPOWER AVAILABILITY

• Planned manpower for the Field Tracer Test is the students of Nuclear Engineering Department and
Process Engineering Department subject to availability of refreshments at the end of test performance.

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EXECUTION

• Weather Forecasting
• Monitoring weather data
• Release of SF6
• Air Sampling
• Release rate data logging
• Logging of weather data
• Analysis with GC-ECD

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WEATHER FORECAST AND MONITORING

• It is necessary to ascertain that the weather forecast at the day of experiment is consistent with the
weather data predicted before upon which the experiment was planned.
• Forecast will be run early in the morning to check the forecast for the day.
• Meteorological parameters will be verified and changes will be made to the execution plan if needed.
• The important parameters being wind speed, wind direction, temperature and stability class.
• It is not necessary that the predicted weather will be in the predicted time frame. For that we need to
monitor the weather conditions continuously and check when our required conditions occur.

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RELEASE OF SF6

• The release of tracer gas from the experimental stack at HAP’s lab requires a release setup.
• The SF6 cylinder will be placed in the steel tank of the heat exchanger and then both will be placed on
the measuring balance.
• The cylinder will be connected to the inlet of the mass flow controller via a hose pipe on a pressure
regulator.
• The mass flow controller will then be connected to the stack via the hose pipe at its outlet.
• Flowrate in the stack is provided via a blower.
• The heat exchanger will be turned on when the weight of the gas in cylinder falls below 20kg.

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RELEASE SETUP

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AIR SAMPLING

• Students who had been dispatched to their respective arcs will be notified to start sampling once the
release has started.
• To economize the process sampling at the arcs will start and end at different times.
• Based on the wind speed the time for the tracer to reach each arc will be calculated and sampling will
be started once the tracer reaches that arc.
• Similarly, the sampling will end differently on each arc.

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RELEASE RATE AND WEATHER DATA
LOGGING

• The mass balance is used as a back up to the mass flow controller. It is also used to validate the release
rate set on mass flow controller i.e. the flow rate actually remained the set value throughout the
experiment.
• A student will be assigned with the task to log the reading on mass balance and verify that the release
rate set on the mass flow controller matches the release from the cylinder actually.
• The data log will be helpful in defending the quality of experiment.
• The weather station will be logging the weather data automatically on the PC.

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ANALYSIS WITH GC-ECD
• The device used to analyze the concentrations in the samples is “Gas Chromatography-Electron Capture
Detection”.
• The detector uses a radioactive beta particle emitter and a makeup gas. The radioactive isotope releases
electrons that collide with the makeup gas, causing more electrons to be released. This creates a
current, which is measured by the detector.
• An ECD operates using two electrodes with a current passing between them. When a sample passes
between these two electrodes, the molecules pick up some of the electrons, causing a reduction in the
current. This reduction is recorded as a positive peak in the detection of components.
• The samples will be tested for concentration levels and the results will be tabulated.

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THANK YOU!

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