Title: Performance evaluation of CALINE 4 model in a hilly terrain - a case study of highway corridors in Himachal Pradesh (India)

Authors: Rajni Dhyani; Anil Singh; Niraj Sharma; Sunil Gulia

Addresses: Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), New Delhi-110025, India ' Environmental Science Division, CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), New Delhi-110025, India ' Environmental Science Division, CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), New Delhi-110025, India ' Environmental Science Division, CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), New Delhi-110025, India

Abstract: CALINE 4 highway dispersion model is extensively used all over the world including India for prediction of vehicular pollution along highway corridors. A few studies have reported its application and suitability under complex/hilly terrain. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to evaluate the performance of CALINE 4 model in hilly terrain for Indian traffic and meteorological conditions. CALINE 4 model predictions have been compared between flat and hilly terrains along two road corridors in Solan District in the state of Himachal Pradesh (India). The statistical indicators of the model performance such as, index of agreement (d), fractional bias (FB), and normalised mean square error (NMSE) reveal that the model performed satisfactorily in the flat terrain. However, model fell short in explaining the complexity of terrain and performed unsatisfactorily in hilly terrain conditions.

Keywords: CALINE 4 model; hilly terrain; vehicle emissions; emission loads; performance evaluation; highway corridors; India; dispersion modelling; air pollution; air quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2013.058455

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2013 Vol.52 No.3/4, pp.244 - 262

Received: 03 May 2013
Accepted: 21 Aug 2013
Published online: 28 Feb 2014 *

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