Prof. Virendra Sethi
IIT Bombay
Study of the influence of wind conditions on resuspension and dispersion of fugitive dust from stockpiles
ABSTRACT
Dust resuspension from open stockpiles as a fugitive source of air pollution is a pressing environmental issue in port operations. The present study integrates computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and dispersion modelling approaches to investigate the impact of fugitive dust on ground level PM concentrations. CFD simulations were conducted to derive wind velocities at the stockpile surface, which provided the Emission Factors (EFs) based on a USEPA method. These EFs were further used in a dispersion model to understand the seasonal impact. The meteorological conditions for the port area under study revealed that the highest wind speeds occurred during the winter season. However, the dispersion results for winter season, showed that fugitive dust gets dispersed predominantly toward the sea and away from the human habitat. This implies that the port operations could continue even under high wind velocity conditions with minimal impact on air quality for the nearby communities. In contrast, during the summer, when winds are less intense and the EFs are lower, they tend to affect the local residential areas because of the direction of the winds. The results of this study assist in developing, targeted mitigation measures to minimize the impact on air quality, while maintaining optimised handling capacity for the specific port under study.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Virendra Sethi is a Professor in Environmental Science and Engineering Department (previously CESE) at IIT Bombay. He completed his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay, and then MS and PhD in Environmental Engineering from University of Cincinnati, USA. He has worked with ONGC and USEPA, and has been at IIT Bombay since 2000. His areas of interests are air quality, remote sensing, and aerosol dynamics and measurements.
