A better understanding of the microscale meteorology of deep, open pit mines is important for mineral exploitation in arctic and subarctic regions. During strong temperature inversions in the atmospheric boundary layer--which are common in arctic regions during the winter--the concentrations of gaseous pollutants in open pit mines can reach dangerous levels. In this research, a two dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was used to study the atmosphere of an open pit mine. The natural airflow patterns in an open pit mine are strongly dependent on the geometry of the mine. Generally, mechanical turbulence created by the mine topography results in a recirculatory region at the bottom of the mine that is detached from the freestream. The presence of a temperature inversion further inhibits natural ventilation in open pit mines, and the air can quickly become contaminated if a source of pollution is present. Several different exhaust fan configurations were modeled to see if the pollution problem could be mitigated. The two dimensional model suggests that mitigation is possible, but the large quantity of ventilating air required would most likely beimpractical in an industrial setting.

Entrapment of pollutants in a deep open pit operating in a cold climate could occur due to atmospheric inversion. The process of air inversion is complex and requires thorough understanding in order to design a mine ventilation plan to remove trapped pollutants in open-pit mines operating in the arctic/sub-arctic regions. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a model using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools for analysis of gaseous pollutant transport in deep, open pit mines under air inversion in arctic or subarctic regions. An Eulerian 3-D model was used for the development and validation of the CFD model of pollutant transport in an idealized open pit mine. No prior assumptions, turbulent or laminar, were considered for the nature of the flow. The 2-D model results indicated that air velocity, air temperature, diffusivity coefficient and slope angle were important controlling parameters in the inversion process. The flow regime was laminar at the origin, but as the flow progressed toward the center of the pit it changed to quasi-laminar and generated local eddies towards the pit bottom. The total energy of the quasi-laminar flow as well as the small local eddies was not enough to lift the inversion cap. However, a combination of quasi-turbulent flow and the local eddy transport resulted in removal of some of the pollutant mass from the pit bottom, either due to turbulent mixing, or due to advection. Presence of backflow may appear to be a logical mode of flow in deep open-pit mines in arctic regions. Next, the 3D model was validated using data from a selected open-pit mine. Influent air velocity, diffusivity coefficient, larger pit geometry were found to influence the retention and transport of pollutant out of the pit. The most important conclusion that was drawn from this research is that natural ventilation alone cannot remove the pollutants from an open pit or lift the inversion cap.

Diagnostic models of wind field and pollutant dispersion face difficulty when applied to complex terrain. Open-pit mines are an example of this difficult environment. To elucidate such difficulties, two models are developed and compared with one another. The first model is based on the prognostic Computational Fluid Dynamics-Lagrangian Stochastic (CFD-LS) paradigm, while the second model is based on the diagnostic CALifornia PUFF (CALPUFF) software. Two mine depths (100 [m] and 500 [m]) and three thermal stability conditions (unstable, neutral, and stable) are investigated using the two models. The CFD results showed that the skimming flow is only predicted under the neutral case, while more complex flow patterns emerge otherwise. Under the unstable case, the shallow and deep mines induce enhanced mixing downstream of the mine, resulting in substantial vertical plume transport and dilution of the pollutants released from the mine. Under the stable case, the plume from the shallow mine is restricted to the surface layer downstream of the mine. However, under the stable case, the plume from the deep mine rises into the substantial portion of the boundary layer due to the formation of a standing wave over and inside the mine. The results suggest that the CFD model can predict transport phenomena over open-pit mines reliably, so that the meteorological fields may be incorporated in operational models to improve the accuracy of their predictions. On the other hand, the CALPUFF model generally deviates from CFD-LS predictions, and the disagreement between the two models is the greatest when modelling the deep mine, under neutral/stable conditions, or when its solutions are considered close to the mine edge. Among many reasons, the variances appear to be related to the internal algorithms of the CALPUFF model to predict the wind eld structure appropriately. The results should caution practitioners considering diagnostic models for application over complex terrain, with opportunities to investigate such discrepancies at greater detail in follow up research.

This dissertation, "Large-eddy Simulation of Transport of Inert and Chemically Reactive Pollutants Over 2D Idealized Street Canyons" by Nga-hang, Chung, 鍾雅行, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: In view of the worsening air quality in the world, more concerns are focused on the environment. This thesis uses the technique of CFD and develops the computer model to investigate the wind and pollutant transport, as well as the chemistry of reactive pollutants in idealized two-dimensional (2D) street canyons. Three scientific questions are raised in this thesis. The first task is to find out the po- sition with the most favorable pollutant removal along the ground level over 2D idealized street canyon of different building-height-to-street-width (aspect) ratios (ARs). The di- mensionless parameter, C, represents the pollutant removal performance. In the isolated roughness regime, the two local maximum C locate at the reattachment point and the windward corner. In the wake interference regime, C is peaked on the windward side. The number of vertically aligned recirculations depends on the street depth in the skimming flow regime. The sizes of the secondary recirculation upstream and downstream deter- mine how the maximum C shifts from the street centre. After identifying the position of peaked pollutant removal rate at the ground level, the emission source should be placed with the highest constant C in order to remove the pollutants upward more quickly to safeguard the street-level air quality. After understanding the best pollutant removal in the street canyon of different ARs, the second task is to find out what AR is the most favorable for the ventilation and pollutant removal across the roof level. The three parameters, namely friction factor, air exchange rate (ACH) and pollutant exchange rate (PCH), are introduced to quantify the pressure difference to sustain the mean flow, the ventilation and pollutant removal, respectively. The turbulence contributes more than 70% to the total ACH and PCH in all the three flow regimes. By increasing the atmospheric turbulence in building geometry as well as the surface roughness, the ventilation and pollutant removal performance can be improved. The linear relation between the friction factor and ACH demonstrates the larger resistance that in turn promotes the air exchange over the roof level. The physical dispersion is studied; however atmospheric pollutants are seldom in- ert but chemically reactive instead. The last task is to include the three common air pollutants, NO, NO2 and O3, in the simple NOx ?O3 mechanism in terms of the photo- stationary state and reaction rates. The Damkohler numbers of NO and O3, DaNO and DaO3, are parameterized by the concentrations of the sources NO and O3. The normalized mean and fluctuation NO, NO2 and O3 are separately considered. The integrated pho- tostationary state (PSS) in the first canyon increases with DaO3 under the same DaNO. The integrated PSS of the second to the twelveth street canyons are compared with each case, the monotonic increase in the PSS from the second to twelveth canyon is perceived in DaNO/DaO3 1, 0.03, 0.02, 0.001 and 0.000333. Further decreases the DaNO/DaO3 to 0.000143, 0.000125, 0.000118, 0.000111 and 0.0001, the PSS is found to be non-linear and the trough appears in the fourth and fif

This paper reports on an investigation of the adequacy of Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), using a standard Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) model, for predicting dispersion of neutrally buoyant gas in a large indoor space. We used CFD to predict pollutant (dye) concentration profiles in a water filled scale model of an atrium with a continuous pollutant source. Predictions from the RANS formulation are comparable to an ensemble average of independent identical experiments. Model results were compared to pollutant concentration data in a horizontal plane from experiments in a scale model atrium. Predictions were made for steady-state (fully developed) and transient (developing) pollutant concentrations. Agreement between CFD predictions and ensemble averaged experimental measurements is quantified using the ratios of CFD-predicted and experimentally measured dye concentration at a large number of points in the measurement plane. Agreement is considered good if these ratios fall between 0.5 and 2.0 at all points in the plane. The standard k-epsilon two equation turbulence model obtains this level of agreement and predicts pollutant arrival time to the measurement plane within a few seconds. These results suggest that this modeling approach is adequate for predicting isothermal pollutant transport in a large room with simple geometry.