A 3D Forensic Pipeline to Track the Origin of Air Pollutants
When an industrial leak or chemical incident occurs, quickly locating the point of origin is crucial. An effective workflow fuses photogrammetry and computational simulation to process real-world data, create a digital model, and analyze how a substance disperses. 🔍
Reconstruct the Scene with Precise Geometry
The first step is to generate a faithful 3D model of the terrain and structures. Aerial or ground photographs are captured and processed by software like Agisoft Metashape. The result is a textured mesh that replicates the site's geometry, serving as the domain for the next calculation phase.
Modeling Process:- Capture images of the incident site from multiple angles.
- Process the photos with photogrammetric software to create a dense point cloud.
- Generate a textured 3D mesh that is the exact digital scenario.
The 3D model is not just a visualization; it is the computational environment where the physical equations will be solved.
Simulate the Reverse Trajectory of Dispersion
The 3D model is imported into a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solver, such as Ansys Fluent or OpenFOAM. Here, the real atmospheric conditions at the time of the event are configured, such as wind direction and speed. The key is that the simulation does not project forward, but calculates the path backward in time.
CFD Simulation Setup:- Define historical atmospheric boundary conditions.
- Establish known measurement points for agent concentration.
- Run a reverse calculation to trace the probable origin of the emission.
From Data to the Probable Source
The ultimate goal is to identify the most probable emission zones from concentration data taken at specific points. This method transforms scattered observations into a probability map that points to the origin. Although wind and turbulence can lead results down unexpected paths, the technique provides a solid, physics-based investigative direction. 🎯