Sensitivity analysis of a livestock odour dispersion model (LODM) to input parameters: Part I, source parameters and surface parameters

Abstract

Sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate a livestock odour dispersion model (LODM) with respect to its input source parameters including: stack height, stack diameter, exit velocity, exit temperature, and emission rate and surface parameters (surface roughness, albedo, and Bowen ratio). An elasticity value was calculated together with the average change of odour concentration and frequency to indicate the model sensitivity to its input parameters. Results showed that the source parameters have the similar medium impact on model predicted hourly odour concentrations and hourly odour frequencies. The sensitivity of emission rate is lower to odour frequencies than odour concentrations. Among the three surface parameters, LODM has low sensitive to surface roughness while its sensitivity to albedo and Bowen ratio is negligible. In practice, in order to reduce the odour impact from livestock operation, the most effective way is to reduce the emission rate.