Air traffic development and growth raise issues regarding health problems induced by airport activities and more specifically regarding the impact of airport-related pollutant emissions on local air quality. However, at this range, the impact of airport activities is substantially dependant upon local specificities. Among the latter, weather conditions have a double impact as they influence pollutant mass emitted by the airport activities and they also determine dispersive phenomena spearheading the impact of emissions on air quality. Nonetheless some details of these impacts are still to be grasped. Hence, this study’s goal was to quantify air pollutant emissions related to the activities at a large-hub airport as well as their impact on air quality while considering and detailing the impact of weather conditions on the latter.
Using airport data from the year 2015, this study quantified the pollutant emissions resulting from aircraft main engine, ground support equipment, auxiliary power units and ground access vehicles. Between these sources, the impact of weather conditions is considered on aircraft main engine. This impact shows pronounced seasonal variations for NOx, HC and CO emissions. Summer conditions decrease NOx emissions whereas winter conditions decrease HC and CO emissions and increase NOx emissions. Considering all airport-related sources in this study, aircraft main engines are responsible for the greater part of pollutant emissions. However, ground access vehicles are the greater source of CO emissions and are a significant source of PM10 like ground support equipment and auxiliary power units.
Effect of weather conditions has also been investigated on NOx and CO concentrations using a gaussian dispersion model. This impact has been quantified using two dispersion scenarios that have identical airport activities but weather conditions representative of extreme temperature conditions at the airport during 2015. Modeled pollutant concentrations found over the local area are higher during winter and dispersion occurs over distances up to 70% greater than during summer. Moreover, the more frequent atmospheric instability conditions observed during summer advantage the vertical dispersion of pollutant therefore limiting the ground surface impacted by airport-related pollution.
Finally, using airport activities from 2017, this study quantifies the critical impact of airport emissions on the local area during winter and summer. This impact is studied in relation with the impact resulting from the 4 highway sections surround the airport enclosure. Airportrelated pollutant concentrations are exceeding local air quality regulations limits regarding NOx concentrations however, these excesses occur exclusively inside the airport enclosure. Compared to the highway sections, the airport activities have a smaller median impact on air quality concerning CO and PM10. Nonetheless, the greater heterogeneity of airport emissions spatial distribution results in the airport having greater 99th percentile impacts over the local for NOx, PM10 and VOC.
| Date | 23 Mar 2021 |
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| Original language | French |
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| Awarding Institution | - École de technologie supérieure
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| Supervisor | François Garnier (Supervisor), Patrice Seers (Co-supervisor) & Weeded Ghedhaïfi (Co-supervisor) |
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Henry-Lheureux, T. (Author),
Garnier (Supervisor),
Seers (Co-supervisor) & Ghedhaïfi (Co-supervisor),
23 Mar 2021Student thesis: Doctoral thesis › Doctorate in Engineering: Engineering