10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Abstract View
Calculating Wet Deposition and Aerosol Sizes Sensitivities within a Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Code
LI KAIBO, Xu Xuefeng, China Academy Of Engineering Physics
Abstract Number: 748 Working Group: Remote/Regional Atmospheric Aerosol
Abstract This paper describes an investigation into the uses of first-order, local sensitivity analysis in a Lagrangian dispersion code. The goal of the project is to gain knowledge not only about the sensitivity of the dispersion code predictions to the specific input parameters of interest, but also to better understand the uses and limitations of sensitivity analysis within such a context. The dispersion code of interest here is RATRANS, which is used for modeling emergency release scenarios in nuclear accident. Monte Carlo and ensemble techniques are available in RATRANS. Sensitivity analysis is being explored as a means to gain an understanding of the contribution to uncertainty from certain types of input parameters. As a first step, first-order sensitivity analysis was implemented within the precipitation-scavenging module of RATRANS. This module is logically split from the remainder of the dispersion calculation, so the sensitivities may be explored without concern about parameter and computational dependencies, and the linearization implicit in the formulation is acceptable. The general goals of the project are: To understand the sensitivity of RATRANS predictions of precipitation scavenging (wet deposition) to the rain rate and aerosol particle size; To explore the advantages and limitations of first-order sensitivity analysis within a Lagrangian dispersion framework; To gain the understanding necessary to plan a more comprehensive uncertainty analysis project for the RATRANS suite of codes.