Generalization of Modeling Along-Wind Dispersion

The method to model along-wind dispersion is an important aspect of many currently used commercial atmospheric dispersion models when considering time-limited, time-varying, or instantaneous releases of toxic or flammable materials. Past wind tunnel experimental data has shown the validity of this approach. Inclusion of the effects of along-wind dispersion has proven to be critically important to modeling available field-scale data with current models for such time-varying releases. Many investigators have considered modeling along-wind dispersion from a theoretical point of view as well as basic parameterization of available field test data. This paper reviews past work and proposes a non-dimensionalized parameterization which shows improved agreement with available field-scale data.