Prediction of Cloud Effects Chimney Plumes
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RePrintedfrom ATMO SPHERIC ENVIRO N M ENT Vol.17, No. 5, pp.983'990 PREDICTION OF CLOUD EFFECTSIN CHIMNEY PLUMES K. T. Spru,lNe dnd C. C' Etsuu CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Physics,P'O. Box 77' Mordialloc, Victoria, Australia PERGAMON PRESS OXFORD NEW YORK TORONTO SYDNEY PARIS FRANKFURT 1983 'a 0004-6981/83$3 0O+ 00 Athlosphetic EnDirokmentVol l'1, No 5, pp 983-990' 1983 @ 1983Pergamon Press Ltd Printed in Creat Britain PREDICTION OF CLOUD EFFECTSIN CHIMNEY PLUMES K. T. SprluNE* and C. C. Er-suv cSIRODivision of AtmosphericPhysics, P.o Box77, Mordialloc, victoria, Australia (First receiued16 June 1982 and receiuedfor publication 18 October 1982) and cloud length in chimney Abstract-A numerical model to predict the occurrenceof visiblecondensation gas-fired power statlon at pfr..r-fr testJ against obserualions of the plume from a 500MW natural 'Melbourn", literature on plume Australia. The model employs two intrainment parametersselected from the plume to be visible is developed traiectoriesand not fitted to ttreouseivaiions reported here.A criterion for a water determined from Gaussiantwo- i;?;;;;ilr;;;;;; I fi iadius and plume distiibution of condensed between cloudy and dimensionalization oi t"-p"rature a;d total water. The model correctly discriminates extendsinto the far-field and when ,,'on-"iorJv plumes, betweenoccasions ofpersistent cloud that "ni11ney length.in this latter case The cloud terminates in the cohlrent-plume-phase and reliably forecastscloud predictions iirrft. .-pfr"rize that good meteorological data are required for accurate cen- INTRODUCTION observationswere restricted to steadyconditions tred on a radiosonde-windsounding at the Loy Yang The visual impact of cooling tower clouds is well s1te. known and generally anticipated in the design and For occasionswhen cloud terminatedprior to the planning of modern power stations' This follows from maximumrise of a plume,the correlationcoefficient (X') is the fact that their plumes at the outlets emerge as cloud betweenobserved (X.) and predictedlengths droplets, with liquid water burden of around 0.84,with a regressionequation 3. conditions determine 1-2 gm- The environmental X":24+1.01X. (m). (1) the length and rise of the cloudy portions of these plumes, but invariably when the station is operating a The slopeof 1.01does not indicatea bias in the cloudy plume of some length is emitted' modelof lengthpredicted, while the systematic error of In the caseof chimney plumes the moisture content 24m is equalto the radiusof the tower'soutlet' of the flue gas varies with fuel. In Australia, for This model hasalso been used (Spillane and Elsum, example, the brown coal from the Latrobe Valley of 1980)to predict the cloud effectsexpected in the Victoria, the major fuel for power generation in that chimneyplumes from a 500MW, singleboiler-single (D) Newport'an state, has a water content averaging around 62/"by flue,natural gas-fired power station at weight. Continuous soot'blowing operations using irlner baysidesuburb of the city of Melbourne, for water sprays further adds to the specific humidity of Australia (see Fig. 1). The model predictions (cloudy) the flue gases. For the Loy Yang power statlons Newportwere that theplume would be visible rarely currently under construction the specific humidity of "every secondday on averagein winter and - 1. the flue gaseswill range from 0.143to 0.157 g g The visiblein summer". atmospheric environment of the Latrobe Valley is such Duringcommissioning tests of thisstation in winter that clouds are expected to condense within the Loy 1981,the opportunity was taken to comparethe model and Yang chimney plumes on one day in every two' The predictionsof chimneyclouds with observations here' seasonaldistribution of such days varies from one day the resultsof this comparisonare reported 1973,p' 105' in three in summer to two in every three in winter In its EnvironmentalReport of March (Spillane, 1980a).This expectation was found using a the S.E.C.of Victoriastated "The chimneyplume will, numerical model of plume rise and condensation, the in general, be invisible when burning natural a white development of which has been discussedin detail by gas.. Undercertain atmospheric conditions presenceof water Spillane (1980b).The model hasalready been testedon plume will be visible due to the natural cooling tower plumes from Yallourn W power station vapourin the flue gaseswhen burning either in this valley (Spillane,198ft)' In-tower measurements gasor fuel oil." (Spillane, 1980d) permitted an accurate assessmentof In the event,the chimneyplume was visible on 50|i white outlet conditions as a function of heat-load and of daysin winter 1981,its appearancewas rarely cloud seenin environmental temperature and humidity while cloud but mostly grey-black,typical of low diffuselight and shadowsof naturalcloud of thecool moist winter enjoyed by coastal Victoria' Under- '* standablyit is mistakenlyconfused with smoke by Presentaddress: CSIRO Division of TropicalCrops and observerswho feeltheir environment is threatened and Pastures,Carmody Road, St Lucia, Queensland4067' Australia. react accordingly. 983 K. T, Sprlmus and C. C. Er,suv PORTPI.IILLIP BAY Fig. 1. Area location map showing Newport Power Station, Laverton radiosonde station and sites used during the observation period. This studyis concernedwith the physicalprocesses If condensationoccurs the release of latentheat will involvedso as to assistwith reliabledetailed predic- causethe temperatureproflle to departfrom the form tionsof plumecloudiness, at theplanning stage of site of (2).Temperature rise in a zoneof condensationis selection. givengenerally by Q\r)-es.rvt 5T(r\: rj)\/' CplL+(0q"l0T\r,,.,' 2. THE PLUME-CLOUD MODEL The condensedcloud water,C(r), is on average Criterion for cloudy condensation c(r): q(r)-Qsr6's+dr6(eg-') (4) The model has been designedabout the usual whereZ(r) is that temperaturewhich would arise from integralequations for a buoyantplume (Weil, 1974; mixingin theabsence ofcondensation, qrris saturation Wigley,l975a,b; Hanna,1972, 1976), which evaluate specific humidity at temperatureT in general,and the plume trajectory and provide time averagedtop- CplL is the ratio of the specificheat of plume air at hat temperature(Tr), total specificwater content (4o) constantpressure to thelatent heat ofcondensation at andradius (a) alongthe trajectory. To determinedetail T(r). in condensation (time averaged)radial profiles of At eachstep in the integrationof the plumeequa- temperatureand total specifichumidity were adopted tions, the radial profiles q\r), T(r) are examinedfor in orderto treatthe turbulent mixing of environmental condensation.The radii (r1,rr) of the condensation air into the plume.For this purposethe Gaussian zoneand the maximumvalue of C, (C.""),in the zone, profile form togetherprovide a suitablemeasure of the average Lq(r) : Aq(0)exp - (2r2laz) (2') liquid watercontained as cloud droplets in a volumeof unit cross-sectionalarea transverseto the plume is adopted.Here denotes property A excessof a of the cenne. plume over the environment, is total specific 4(r) The condensationis consideredvisible as a cloud humidity at radius r and for profile (2) the the (seeAppendix) when centrelinevalue q(0) :2q0. For condensationto occurthe straightline joining C^u,(rz-r)pp 2 0.28gm-2. (5) thepoints (q (0),f(0)), (q",7") on a Taylor 4,Z-diagram Once visible cloud occurs its maximum extent is mustintersect the saturationq curve(q"). (Herc q".7" determinedemploying the "peak factor" or additional refer to the local environment of the plume.) Eacb mixingconcept of Meyeret al. (1974\.Inthe modela point on this straight line representsa mixture of ratio of volumefluxes is equivalentto a ratio of mass environmentalair with centrelineair while the radial fluxesand is a measureof environmentalair entrained distanceat which the mixture occursis given by (2). betweenoutlet and a particularlocation, i.e. The integralequations, on the other hand give the averageproperties of theplume due to mixingwith the LT-^ V^ L,q^^-Pw ____L _ t6\ environmentbetween outlet and a particularlocation. LTo Vro LQp Predictionof cloud effectsin chimneyplumes 985 velocitynormal to theplume where the subscript o refersto plume properties at the [whereU, is entrainment (J the integral boundaryand U, is the vertical,(relative) component outlet, and V : raz is obtained from requiresy : in uniformwind but equations of Section 6. of plumevelocity], P wind shearand basedon the usual Briggs (1975) in a re-analysis of American data in the presenceof approximatesU; deduced that for plumes from cooling towers, de- assumptionUo always scribed by an integral model with an entralnment usedin our model (P": 0'4' Y:r-J-Y:.' (10) constant of the magnitude dz 2U" dz see later), the maximum extent of visible cloud coin- cides with that location whete Vof Vro: 2.1 times the Such an equationhas beenemployed by Bringfelt Vof VoovalueswhereAqo : Lqsr; For the-Yallourn 17 (1969)and Hanna(1976) with 7: p. This departure model found a displacementlaw restson U : U obr..uitiont referenced above bur from a relative , " factor of 2.15 gave the best description, in good whichis not truein a shearedenvironment but canbe agreement with Briggs. While one may vary such a accommodatedby (8)which also interpolates through factor to best-fit a set of observationswe have retained the bending-overphase' Such interpolations in terms this independentestimate of 2'15 and the end of visible of velocityentrainment laws have been employed by cloud