Atmospheric Gaussian Plume Dispersion

Environmental Engineering

How It Works

The Gaussian plume formulation describes the steady-state advection and turbulent dispersion of airborne pollutants released from an industrial stack. Wind speed transports the plume horizontally downwind while atmospheric turbulent eddies disperse the emission according to normal Gaussian probability distributions in both crosswind and vertical dimensions.

Governing Equation
C(x,y,z) = [Q / (2π · u · σ_y · σ_z)] · exp[-y²/(2σ_y²)] · {exp[-(z-H)²/(2σ_z²)] + exp[-(z+H)²/(2σ_z²)]}