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    Particulate Matter Dispersion Modeling in Agricultural Applications: Investigation of a Transient Open Source Solver
    (Basel : MDPI, 2021) Janke, David; Swaminathan, Senthilathiban; Hempel, Sabrina; Kasper, Robert; Amon, Thomas
    Agriculture is a major emitter of particulate matter (PM), which causes health problems and can act as a carrier of the pathogen material that spreads diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate an open-source solver that simulates the transport and dispersion of PM for typical agricultural applications. We investigated a coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian solver within the open source software package OpenFOAM. The continuous phase was solved using transient large eddy simulations, where four different subgrid-scale turbulence models and an inflow turbulence generator were tested. The discrete phase was simulated using two different Lagrangian solvers. For the validation case of a turbulent flow of a street canyon, the flowfield could be recaptured very well, with errors of around 5% for the non-equilibrium turbulence models (WALE and dynamicKeq) in the main regions. The inflow turbulence generator could create a stable and accurate boundary layer for the mean vertical velocity and vertical profile of the turbulent Reynolds stresses R11. The validation of the Lagrangian solver showed mixed results, with partly good agreements (simulation results within the measurement uncertainty), and partly high deviations of up to 80% for the concentration of particles. The higher deviations were attributed to an insufficient turbulence regime of the used validation case, which was an experimental chamber. For the simulation case of PM dispersion from manure application on a field, the solver could capture the influence of features such as size and density on the dispersion. The investigated solver is especially useful for further investigations into time-dependent processes in the near-source area of PM sources.
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    Comparison of Methane Emission Patterns from Dairy Housings with Solid and Slatted Floors at Two Locations
    (Basel : MDPI, 2022) Hempel, Sabrina; Janke, David; Losand, Bernd; Zeyer, Kerstin; Zähner, Michael; Mohn, Joachim; Amon, Thomas; Schrade, Sabine
    Methane (CH4) emissions from dairy husbandry are a hot topic in the context of active climate protection, where housing systems with slatted floors and slurry storage inside are in general expected to emit more than systems with solid floors. There are multiple factors, including climate conditions, that modulate the emission pattern. In this study, we investigated interrelations between CH4 emission patterns and climate conditions as well as differences between farm locations versus floor effects. We considered three data sets with 265, 264 and 275 hourly emission values from two housing systems (one slatted, one solid floor) in Switzerland and one system with solid floors in Germany. Each data set incorporated measurements in summer, winter and a transition season. The average CH4 emission was highest for the slatted floor system. For the solid floor systems, CH4 emissions at the Swiss location were around 30% higher compared to the German location. The shape of the distributions for the two solid floor systems was rather similar but very different from the distribution for the slatted floor system, which showed higher prevalence for extreme emissions. Rank correlations, which measure the degree of similarity between two rankings in terms of linear relation, were not able to detect dependencies at the selected significance level. In contrast, mutual information, which measures more general statistical dependencies in terms of shared information, revealed highly significant dependencies for almost all variable pairs. The weakest statistical relation was found between winds speed and CH4 emission, but the convection regime was found to play a key role. Clustering was consistent among the three data sets with five typical clusters related to high/low temperature and wind speed, respectively, as well as in some cases to morning and evening hours. Our analysis showed that despite the disparate and often insignificant correlation between environmental variables and CH4 emission, there is a strong relation between both, which shapes the emission pattern in many aspects much more in addition to differences in the floor type. Although a clear distinction of high and low emission condition clusters based on the selected environmental variables was not possible, trends were clearly visible. Further research with larger data sets is advisable to verify the detected trends and enable prognoses for husbandry systems under different climate conditions.