Effect of the topography of an industrial site on dust emissions from open storage yards

The erosion, transport and subsequent deposition of particles by wind has been identified as an important environmental problem worldwide. Investigations assessing fugitive dust emissions represent a relevant subject for various applications such as prevention of desert expansion, farmland erosion, quantification of dust emissions due to wind erosion from mining zones or open storage yards of granular materials. The present study, within this latter framework, aims to improve the methods of quantification of fugitive emissions from granular materials stockpiles on industrial sites. The methodology mostly used by the industrial operators to quantify dust emissions from their plants is based on the wind flow analysis and application of emission factors into such pattern. In this paper, three-dimensional numerical simulations were done to simulate wind flow over a real configuration of a power plant to highlight the influence of the surroundings buildings on the real exposure of the granular materials stockpiles. This study emphasizes the necessity to take into consideration the presence of surrounding buildings for the calculation of the particle emissions rate on stockpiles in order to obtain a more accurate and relevant evaluation of fugitive dust emissions from open storage systems on industrial sites.