=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3006/64_short_paper
|storemode=property
|title=Methods for estimate the dynamic and thermal characteristics of smoke plumes
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3006/64_short_paper.pdf
|volume=Vol-3006
|authors=Vladimir F. Raputa,Anatoly A. Lezhenin
}}
==Methods for estimate the dynamic and thermal characteristics of smoke plumes==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3006/64_short_paper.pdf
Methods for estimate the dynamic and thermal
characteristics of smoke plumes
Vladimir F. Raputa1 , Anatoly A. Lezhenin1
1
Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia
Abstract
Space observations of the propagation of smoke flares from the chimneys of industrial enterprises provide
information on the physical characteristics of the emitted gas-air mixtures. Models for estimating the
parameters of the rise of impurities under the influence of dynamic and thermal factors are proposed.
The basic relations in the estimation models are the solutions of the equations of hydrothermodynamics
of the atmosphere. The case of neutral atmospheric stratification is considered in detail. Using satellite
information and meteorological observation data, a numerical study of the stage of ascent of smoke jets
from the chimneys of the Gusinoozerskaya State District Power Plant was carried out.
Keywords
Atmosphere, satellite images, smoke plume, buoyancy flux, equations of hydrothermodynamics.
1. Introduction
The study of atmospheric pollution processes is an urgent problem. Its solution makes it possible
to assess the risks to public health, to determine the level of impact of emissions of harmful
impurities on the environment [1, 2, 3, 4]. The study of the regularities of the distribution of
impurities serves as the basis for managing the quality of the natural environment.
Satellite information allows you to get a fairly complete picture of the processes of atmospheric
transport of pollutants in the visible range. Pictures of forest fires, smoke plumes from chimneys
of industrial enterprises, large thermal power plants record the picture of the current atmospheric
pollution [5, 6, 7, 8].
The trajectories of the plumes can be used to determine the direction and speed of the wind, to
assess the characteristics of the rise of smoke flares and their further propagation [7, 9, 10, 11, 12].
Meteorological conditions have a significant impact on the length of the plumes and their
dispersion. Hydrodynamic models of the atmosphere make it possible to describe the processes
of the propagation of an admixture on various spatial scales [1, 3, 13, 14, 15]. Numerical
models require information on the characteristics of emission sources, current meteorological
conditions [2, 7, 14], which is not always possible.
The aim of the work is to develop and test methods for assessing the characteristics of the
rise of smoke plumes. As additional conditions, the equations of hydrothermodynamics and
impurity propagation are used [14, 17, 18]. Satellite images, aerological and meteorological
information are also used.
SDM-2021: All-Russian conference, August 24–27, 2021, Novosibirsk, Russia
" raputa@sscc.ru (V. F. Raputa); lezhenin@ommfao.sscc.ru (A. A. Lezhenin)
© 2021 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
CEUR
Workshop
Proceedings
http://ceur-ws.org
ISSN 1613-0073 CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
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Vladimir F. Raputa et al. CEUR Workshop Proceedings 541–549
2. Objects and materials of research
2.1. Satellite information
Winter satellite images of smoke plumes from the high-rise chimneys of the Gusinoozerskaya
State District Power Plant (SDPP) served as research materials. The SDPP is the largest power
plant in Transbaikalia. It supplies electricity to Buryatia and neighboring regions. Lake Gusinoe
is a natural cooling reservoir for the station [19, 20]. The SDPP annually consumes up to
3 million tons of coal. Flue gases are removed by two high-rise pipes. The main pipe has a
height of 330 m and a mouth diameter of 12 m. The second pipe has a height of 190 m and a
mouth diameter of 9 m. The station is located at an altitude of 561 m above sea level [21].
In Figure 1 shows a snapshot of the Gusinoozerskaya SDPP location with the Landsat-8
satellite as of December 6, 2019. The image was taken at the Siberian Center of the Research
Center for Space Hydrometeorology PLANETA (http://www.rcpod.ru).
Figure 1 shows the trajectories of smoke mixtures from the pipes of the Gusinoozerskaya
SDPP. Smoke plumes are demolished in the northeast direction. The presence of a right turn of
the wind with height in the boundary layer of the atmosphere leads to the intersection of the
trajectories of trails from the station’s pipes of different heights. The positions of the shadows
of the trails are fixed on the earth’s surface. They are used to determine the active and passive
phases of the rise of the smoke mixture and the further transport of the plume by wind currents.
Smoke jets reach significant heights. This situation, as a rule, is realized with weak winds in
the lower atmosphere.
Figure 1: Satellite image of Gusinoozersk from December 6, 2019 at 11:46 am local time from the
satellite “Landsat-8”.
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2.2. Weather conditions
For the analysis of meteorological conditions during December 6, 2019, information from the
aerological station Krasny Chikoy (WMO index 30935) was used. The aerological station is
located 180 km southeast of the city of Gusinoozersk. The height of the station is 771 m above
sea level. Table 1 shows the main meteorological values for the day under consideration at 08
and 20 hours local time (corresponds to 00 and 12 UTC).
From Table 1 it follows that during December 6, in the layer up to 1.5 km, a temperature
inversion was observed and a wind of 5–9 m/s in the southwestern direction was recorded. At
the same time, in the layer 200–500 m from the earth’s surface, the temperature stratification
was close to neutral.
Table 1
Meteorological parameters in the lower atmosphere according to the data of the upper-air station
Krasny Chikoy (WMO index 30935) as of December 6, 2019.
Time, Height above Atmospheric Temperature, Wind direction, Wind speed,
∘
UTC sea level, m pressure, hPa C degrees m/s
771 940 −23.1 calm 0
890 925 −20.1 255 2
906 923 −19.8 240 2
00 1265 880 −12.9 257 5
1335 872 −12.5 260 6
1530 850 −11.3 290 10
1575 845 −11.2 295 11
771 938 −22.1 calm 0
874 925 −19.3 315 1
1109 897 −15.0 230 4
12 1333 871 −10.8 230 8
1439 859 −8.9 239 9
1521 850 −8.3 245 9
1669 834 −6.9 255 8
Table 2
Data from the Novoselenginsk weather station (WMO index 30829) as of December 06, 2019.
Wind Dew point Relative Aitmospheric Atmospheric
Time, Temperature,
Speed, ∘ temperature, humidity, pressure, pressure
UTC Direction C ∘
m/s C % hPa at sea level, hPa
0 NW 2 −25.9 −28.6 78 1044.1 967.4
3 NW 1 −26.1 −28.9 77 1044.1 967.4
6 NE 1 −21.1 −23.6 80 1040.5 965.5
9 N 3 −22.5 −25.0 80 1039.7 964.3
12 NW 1 −26.9 −29.8 76 1039.8 963.1
15 calm 0 −27.3 −30.1 77 1037.9 961.3
18 calm 0 −30.3 −33.5 73 1036.6 959.1
21 calm 0 −30.4 −33.6 73 1034.4 957.1
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Table 2 shows the data of the Novoselenginsk weather station (height 556 m above sea level),
located at a distance of 25 km from the Gusinoozerskaya SDPP. Note that local time differs from
UTC by 8 hours.
From Table 2 it follows that weak winds and calm conditions were observed during the day
under consideration. December 6, 2019 is characterized by low air temperatures with a weak
diurnal variation.
The analysis of ground meteorological data as of December 6, 2019 also showed that during the
day under consideration, there was practically no wind in the vicinity of the Gusinoozerskaya
SDPP and a low air temperature (−30 ∘ C) was recorded.
2.3. Method for calculating the height of rise of a smoke plume using satellite
information
To determine the parameters of the rise of smoke plumes, the absence of significant clouds
on satellite images is required. The ground surface must be sufficiently uniform to maintain
contrast in the shadow of the plume. Winter snapshots are preferred. The snow cover ensures
the uniformity of the ground surface. Also, during this period, the emission of impurities
from thermal power plants increases. Situations with light winds are of particular interest. In
conditions of weak winds, calculations of the ascent heights according to generally accepted
methods are ineffective [1, 2, 22, 23].
Determination of the lift height of the loops using satellite information is carried out in the
following sequence [12]:
1) By the location of the shadow of the smoke plume on the surface of the earth, the area of
passive transfer of the plume in the direction of the wind is determined.
2) at the selected point of the upper part of the smoke jet, a section is drawn and the radius of
the smoke torch is determined from it;
3) the azimuth of the sun determines the distance between the upper part of the trail on the
passive part of the jet’s trajectory and the far edge of its shadow;
4) taking into account the angular height of the sun and this distance, the height of the upper
boundary of the torch is found, and then, minus the radius of the smoke jet, the height of
the plume above ground level is found.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Assessment of the characteristics of the active stage of the rise of the
smoke plumes
Satellite images show the active stage of the rise of the smoke jet. This rise is due to the
dynamic and thermal characteristics of the source. A vertical velocity field appears around the
source, which contributes to the rise of the admixture. More reliable methods for estimating
the propagation of a smoke jet are based on the integration of the equations of motion and
heat inflow [1, 14, 17]. Under stationary conditions, the velocity field can be described by the
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following system of equations
𝜕𝑤 𝜕𝑤 𝜕 𝜕𝑤 𝜕2𝑤 𝑔
𝑢 +𝑤 = 𝑘𝑧 + 𝑘𝑦 2 + 𝜗, (1)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑦 𝑇𝑎
𝜕𝜗 𝜕(𝜗 + 𝑇𝑎 ) 𝜕 𝜕𝜗 𝜕2𝜗
𝑢 +𝑤 = 𝑘𝑧 + 𝑘𝑦 2 , (2)
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑦
where 𝑢, 𝑤 are the components of the wind speed along the 𝑥, 𝑧 axes; 𝜗 is the temperature
deviation from 𝑇𝑎 — is the atmospheric temperature?
The use of the axisymmetric approximation allows one to pass from the three-dimensional
formulation of the problem using the system of equations (1), (2) to the next two-dimensional
system of equations [17]
𝜕𝑟𝑢𝑤 𝜕𝑟𝑤2 𝜕 𝜕𝑤 𝑟𝑔
+ = 𝑟𝑘 + 𝜗, (3)
𝜕𝑟 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑟 𝜕𝑟 𝑇𝑎
𝜕𝑟𝑢𝜗 𝜕𝑟𝑤(𝜗 + 𝑇𝑎 ) 𝜕 𝜕𝜗
+ = 𝑟𝑘 . (4)
𝜕𝑟 𝜕𝑧 𝜕𝑟 𝜕𝑧
Integration of equations (3), (4) in explicit form is possible for neutral stratification of the
atmosphere. In this case, the vertical ascent rate 𝑤 and the overheating temperature 𝜗 are
represented in the form [1, 17]
𝑤(𝑧) = 𝑤𝑚 (𝑧)𝑓 (𝛼), 𝜗(𝑧, 𝑟) = 𝜗𝑚 (𝑧)𝑓 (𝛼). (5)
Here 𝑧 is the distance from the source in the vertical direction, 𝑟 is the distance from the jet
axis,
(︂ )︂ 1
𝐴 𝐵 3
𝑤𝑚 (𝑧) = + 3 , (6)
𝑧 𝑧
)︂ 1
𝐵 −3
(︂
𝐺 𝐴
𝜗𝑚 (𝑧) = 2 + 3 , (7)
𝑧 𝑧 𝑧
𝛼2 𝑟
𝑓 (𝛼) = 𝑒− 2 , 𝛼= ,
𝑅
𝐴, 𝐵, 𝐺 are the integration constants, 𝑅 is the radius of the jet.
To describe the initial stage of the expansion of the smoke jet, the relation [17]
𝑟 = 𝑐𝑧. (8)
Parameter 𝑐 is determined by the characteristics of the cone of the smoke plume.
According to the Tables 1, 2, the temperature stratification of the atmosphere at the heights
of the SDPP pipes was close to neutral. This makes it possible to apply relations (5)–(8) to
estimate the temperature of the smoke mixture and the rate of its rise. The 𝐴, 𝐵, 𝐺 values are
determined by the geometric parameters of the smoke plumes.
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Vladimir F. Raputa et al. CEUR Workshop Proceedings 541–549
Assuming that the rate of outflow of the smoke mixture from the pipe is equal to 𝑤0 , using
relation (6), we arrive at the following equation
𝐴 𝐵
+ 3 = 𝑤03 . (9)
𝑧0 𝑧0
At a certain distance upward from the mouth of the pipe, the trajectory of the rise of the
smoke plume bends. The rate of its ascent becomes comparable to the speed of the wind in the
atmosphere at this altitude. Taking into account relation (6), we arrive at the equation
𝐴 𝐵
+ = 𝑤13 . (10)
ℎ + 𝑧0 (ℎ + 𝑧0 )3
Here 𝑧0 is determined using relation (8) by the inner radius of the pipe mouth 𝑟0 , ℎ is the height
at which the ascent velocity of the plume is 𝑤1 , the value 𝑤1 is calculated from the wind speed
at the considered point of the trajectory.
The solution to the system of equations (9), (10) is represented in the following form
𝑤13 (ℎ + 𝑧0 )3 − 𝑤03 𝑧03 𝑤03 𝑧0 − 𝑤13 (ℎ + 𝑧0 )
𝐴= , 𝐵 = 𝑧02 (ℎ + 𝑧0 )2 . (11)
(ℎ + 𝑧0 )2 − 𝑧02 (ℎ + 𝑧0 )2 − 𝑧02
The estimate for the parameter 𝐺 follows from relations (7), (11)
(︂ )︂ 1
𝐴 𝐵 3
𝐺 = Δ𝑇 𝑧02 + 3 = Δ𝑇 𝑧02 𝑤0 . (12)
𝑧0 𝑧0
3.2. Calculation of the additional lifting height of the smoke plume
Satellite information presented in Figure 1, makes it possible to study the active phase of the
rise of smoke plumes from the pipes of the Gusinoozyorskaya SDPP. Additional information
about the distribution of the plumes was obtained based on the analysis of the position of their
shadows on the earth’s surface. In accordance with the algorithm 1)–4), according to the angular
height of the Sun above the horizon and the lengths of the projections of smoke plumes from
the chimneys of the station, the rise heights of smoke formations were determined. The results
are presented in Table 3.
The calculation of additional heights of the rise of smoke plumes from the pipes of the
Gusinoozerskaya SDPP was carried out by the method proposed in [12]. For this, we used a
satellite image shown in Figure 1 and the calculation algorithm given in it. From the angle of
Table 3
Heights of smoke plumes of Gusinoozerskaya SDPP as of December 6, 2019.
Pipe height, m Smoke plume height, m Additional height, m
330 550 230
190 400 210
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the Sun’s altitude above the horizon, its azimuth and the measured projections of the smoke
plume from the chimney to the earth’s surface, the heights of the rise of the smoke mixture
were determined. In this case, the height of the Sun above the horizon reached 15.1∘ , its azimuth
was 165.7∘ . Table 2 shows the parameters of smoke plumes from the chimneys of the SDPP,
calculated using a satellite image (Figure 1).
The significant rise is associated with the peculiarities of the meteorological conditions in
the lower atmosphere, as well as with the dynamic and thermal parameters of emission sources.
4. Conclusions
The use of satellite information makes it possible to estimate the effective height of rise of
smoke plumes from high-rise pipes of industrial enterprises. On its basis, the processes of the
active stage of the propagation of smoke mixtures under the influence of dynamic and thermal
factors can be investigated. As additional conditions in the estimation models, solutions of
the equations of hydrothermodynamics of the atmosphere are used. For the case of a neutral
stratified atmosphere, the estimates of the model parameters are obtained in an explicit form.
Approbation of the proposed approach was carried out using the example of high-rise pipes of
the Gusinoozyorskaya SDPP. Using the winter satellite image from the Landsat-8 satellite dated
December 6, 2019, numerical estimates of additional heights of smoke plumes rise were made.
For this period of time, the applicability of the developed model for estimating the change in
temperature and the rate of rise of a smoke jet in the lower atmosphere has been substantiated.
The proposed approach is most effective in winter conditions. The presence of snow cover
ensures the color uniformity of the earth’s surface. Satellite images show high contrast of
shadows from plumes to the surface. Images from space provide objective information about
the current parameters of smoke jets. For cases of stable and unstable stratification of the
atmosphere, it is advisable to use numerical methods for solving the equations of atmospheric
hydrothermodynamics in estimation models.
Acknowledgments
The work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian
Federation, grant No. 075-15-2020-787 for implementation of Major scientific projects on priority
areas of scientific and technological development (the project “Fundamentals, methods and
technologies for digital monitoring and forecasting of the environmental situation on the Baikal
natural territory”).
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