Title: Atmospheric environmental impact assessment modelling in France

Authors: P.G. Mestayer, C. Sacre

Addresses: Laboratoire de Mecanique des Fluides, URA CNRS 1217, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, France; SUB-MESO, Groupement de Recherches CNRS 1102 Atmosphere Urbaine Sub-mesoechelles, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France ' Division Climatologie, Centre Scientifique et Technique du Batiment, Nantes, France; SUB-MESO, Groupement de Recherches CNRS 1102 Atmosphere Urbaine Sub-mesoechelles, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France

Abstract: The most widely accepted model of atmospheric dispersion for impact assessment in France is the Gaussian model of Doury. The Centre d|Etudes Atomiques (CEA) and Electricite de France (EDF) have developed their own software systems, which include several compatible or nested meteorological, trajectory, and dispersion codes. These systems are fitted to the various atmospheric scales from regional to local, and to the problem under study for real-time monitoring of risk or damage assessment. Recently, several recognised institutions and private groups have equipped themselves with codes either derived from Doury|s (1976) or EDF|s models, or imported from foreign research groups. These developments essentially concern user interfaces and system implementations. Several studies have adapted computational fluid dynamics codes to compute the local wind fields in impact studies and dispersion assessment, especially at very small scales. The GdR SUB-MESO (Groupement de Recherches Atmosphere Urbaine Sub-mesoechelle) is a co-operative effort of eleven institutions to develop a communal code for |reference| studies of the dynamics, physics, dispersion and chemical transformations in the atmospheric boundary layer over complex terrain in urban areas, at scales from a few tens of metres to a few tens of kilometres.

Keywords: atmospheric dispersion models; environmental impact assessment; computational fluid dynamics; CFD; urban pollution; France; air pollution; environmental pollution; modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.1995.028388

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 1995 Vol.5 No.4/5/6, pp.418 - 426

Published online: 17 Sep 2009 *

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