Title: Validation study of the dispersion Lagrangian particle model DIPCOT over complex topographies using different concentration calculation methods

Authors: E. Davakis, S.G. Nychas, S. Andronopoulos, J.G. Bartzis

Addresses: Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. ' Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. ' Environmental Research Laboratory, Institute of Nuclear Technology and Radiation Protection, National Centre for Scientific Research, ''Demokritos'', 15310, Aghia Paraskevi Attikis, Greece. ' Department of Energy Resources Management Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Kozani, Greece

Abstract: In this paper, the Lagrangian particle dispersion model DIPCOT is evaluated by simulating two dispersion experiments over highly complex topographies (the TRANSALP90 and the ETEX experiments). The resulting predicted concentrations were compared with the experimental ones using some well-known performance indices and various types of plots. Furthermore the model results are compared to the statistical performance of other dispersion models that have been applied at the ETEX experiment. The effect of different concentration calculation methods on the predicted concentrations is examined, by comparing the results of five methods: a box counting method with fix dimensions, and four types of concentration estimation density kernels. According to the statistical evaluation, the agreement between the predicted and the measured concentration is affected by the concentration calculation method; the overall behaviour of the model, however, is reasonably good.

Keywords: Lagrangian particle model; box counting; kernel density estimation; validation procedures.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2003.004242

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2003 Vol.20 No.1/2/3/4/5/6, pp.33 - 46

Published online: 10 May 2004 *

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