Velocity field modelling for pollutant plume using 3-D adaptive finite element method

Abstract

Air pollution models usually start from the computation of the velocity field of a fluid. In this paper, we present a model for computing that field based on the contribution of the observed wind flow and the vertical buoyancy or momentum plume rise defined by a Gaussian plume model. This initial velocity field is adjusted to verify incompressibility and impermeability conditions by using a mass consistent model. In this environmental modelling that occur in a three-dimensional domain defined over complex terrain, a mesh generator capable of adapting itself to the topographical data and to the numerical solution is essential. Here, the unstructured tetrahedral meshes are generated by combining the use of a refinement/derefinement algorithm for two-dimensional domains and a tetrahedral mesh generator based on Delaunay triangulation. Occasionally in this process, low quality or even inverted elements may appear. A simultaneous untangling and smoothing procedure allows to optimise the resulting meshes. Once we have constructed the adapted mesh in accordance with the geometrical characteristics of our domain, we use an adaptive local refinement in the plume trajectory. Finally, this model is applied in a test problem. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004.