Impact of aircraft plume dynamics on airport local air quality

•A three-dimensional model for aircraft plume dispersion at airports is developed.•The model is validated against available empirical data.•A simplified method of accounting for plume dynamics in passive dispersion models is proposed.•Numerical estimates of factors to account for aircraft plume dynamics are developed.•London Heathrow is used as a case study and for validation.

Air quality degradation in the locality of airports poses a public health hazard. The ability to quantitatively predict the air quality impacts of airport operations is of importance for assessing the air quality and public health impacts of airports today, of future developments, and for evaluating approaches for mitigating these impacts. However, studies such as the Project for the Sustainable Development of Heathrow have highlighted shortcomings in understanding of aircraft plume dispersion. Further, if national or international aviation environmental policies are to be assessed, a computationally efficient method of modeling aircraft plume dispersion is needed. To address these needs, we describe the formulation and validation of a three-dimensional integral plume model appropriate for modeling aircraft exhaust plumes at airports. We also develop a simplified concentration correction factor approach to efficiently account for dispersion processes particular to aircraft plumes. The model is used to explain monitoring station results in the London Heathrow area showing that pollutant concentrations are approximately constant over wind speeds of 3–12 m s−1, and is applied to reproduce empirically derived relationships between engine types and peak NOx concentrations at Heathrow. We calculated that not accounting for aircraft plume dynamics would result in a factor of 1.36–2.3 over-prediction of the mean NOx concentration (depending on location), consistent with empirical evidence of a factor of 1.7 over-prediction. Concentration correction factors are also calculated for aircraft takeoff, landing and taxi emissions, providing an efficient way to account for aircraft plume effects in atmospheric dispersion models.