Line source model for vehicular pollution prediction near roadways and model evaluation through statistical analysis

Vehicular traffic has become a major source of air pollution in urban areas. Mathematical models can be used to determine the environmental impacts of the existing or developing transportation projects which combine the effects of source strength and meteorology to describe the resulting ambient air concentrations. The objective of the present study was to identify the mathematical model that could be most useful to predict the pollutant concentration near roadways. The Gaussian-based Finite Line Source Model was employed to predict pollutant concentration due to automobiles from roadways. The model was applied to four sections of major highway in Madras, the capital city of Tamilnadu, to predict carbon monoxide concentrations. Comparisons between model outputs and measurements were performed using both quantitative data analysis techniques and statistical methods to evaluate model performance. The analysis indicates that the model's performance was good. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.