What is Chemical Dispersion Model and what are its restrictions?
The chemical dispersion model is the component of TeamAware, which is responsible of calculating the estimated contamination of the chemicals measured from different sampling points during a chemical incident. This contamination estimation is shown on the map, for both 2D AEP and 3D Lagrangian based modelling.
However, Lagrangian model cannot be used for the indoor applications due to some practical reasons:
- This model requires the meteorology data, for indoors, it is very challenging to set meteorological parameters indoors since there may be unknown air-conditioning system, even open windows which may enable the wind to change the contamination.
- This model requires the topology data, for accurate calculation. In most of the emergencies, first responders may not be able to know the indoor map, even the topology of objects and furniture placed indoors, which makes the contamination calculation impossible for residential areas.
Even though there are these limitations about indoor use, this issue can be investigated after TeamAware project, since indoor contamination modelling could be critical for evacuation planning and safe zone assignments. Some possible solutions to overcome these issues can be:
- Placement of wind, temperature and other necessary weather sensors in multiple places of indoors, and modelling internal weather conditions of the building, accordingly.
- Application of Lagrangian contamination modelling for only indoors where the detailed floor plan is available.
