Overview

In the Annex "Dispersion Calculation" of the Technical Instruction on Air Quality Control (TA Luft), a Lagrangian particle model according to the standard VDI 3945 Part 3 and further requirements are specified for the dispersion calculation. The programs AUSTAL and AUSTAL2000 are an exemplary implementation of the requirements of this Annex.

Overview

The program AUSTAL (starting with version 3) refers to the TA Luft draft 2020 and will be the successor of the program AUSTAL2000 (ending with version 2), which refers to the TA Luft 2002.

The specifications of the Annex "Dispersion Calculation" themself are already sufficient for a computational implementation of the prescribed algorithms. AUSTAL/AUSTAL2000 is provided by the Federal Environmental Agency as a free reference implementation. It can be used both for practical applications and to check other programs that implement the Annex "Dispersion Calculation" of the TA Luft.

Current program versions:

  • AUSTAL (draft) 3.1.0 (2020-11-23)
  • AUSTAL2000 2.6.11 (2014-09-02)
  • AUSTAL2000N 2.6.11 (2014-09-02)

User hotline (technical questions and problems):

  • See contact details on the right

Latest changes:

  • Info AUSTAL (2021-05-24)

 

Background

 

On the introduction of AUSTAL in 2021

The dispersion program AUSTAL (starting with version 3) is the reference implementation to Annex 2 of the TA Luft draft 2020. The program will be the successor of AUSTAL2000 (ending with version 2), the reference implementation to Annex 3 of the TA Luft 2002. AUSTAL and AUSTAL2000 were developed by Janicke Consulting on behalf of the German Environment Agency (UFOPLAN projects 3714 43 204 0 and 200 43 256).

On the introduction of AUSTAL2000, October 1, 2002

The TA Luft (Technical Instruction on Air Quality Control) has been amended in view of available advanced techniques and European Directives. The new TA Luft has been published on July 30, 2002 (Gemeinsames Ministerialblatt) and thus comes into force October 1, 2002.

Annex 3 of the new TA Luft specifies a Lagrangian particle model according to guideline VDI 3945 Part 3 (example implementation: IBJparticle) to be applied for dispersion calculations. In course of updating Annex 3, the computer program AUSTAL2000 has been developed as an example implementation of Annex 3, together with a documentation of its setup and application in the context of the new TA Luft (UFOPLAN project 200 43 256, "development of a model-based assessment system for regulatory environmental protection", Janicke Consulting on behalf of the German Environment Agency, UBA).

The program package AUSTAL2000 is a tool for applying the algorithms of Annex 3 of the new TA Luft in practice. The UBA has provided it to the public already in its draft version. This is to be seen as a service that aims for quality assurance and harmonization in connection with the dispersion calculation from the very beginning. The statements of Annex 3 themself are already sufficient for a program implementation of the described algorithms. AUSTAL2000 provides a reference implementation against which other programs, that claim to implement the algorithms of Annex 3, can be checked.

September 30, 2002, German Environment Agency

The history of AUSTAL2000 started almost exactly 21 years ago. At the NATO CCMS conference in San Francisco, which took place end of August 1981, I had just presented my formulation of Lagrangian modelling in inhomogeneous turbulence, parallel to similar works by Wilson and Legg & Raupach; in doing so, I delivered a promise made to Hanna during a conference in the preceding year in Amsterdam. The preparations for the TA Luft 1983 had not yet finished, nevertheless the participants already discussed how the TA Luft should develop on an intermediate and long-term time scale.

After the conference, we therefore sat together in the small village Kirkwood, in the mountains east from Jackson, in order to bring our ideas together (in the framework of the UBA project "handbook for immission calculations"). We, that was: Werner Klug, Paul Lühring, Rainer Stern, Robert Yamartino, and myself. Key points for a long-term concept that should reach about 5 to 7 years into the future were, among others:

  • Abandonment of meteorological statistics in favour of the simulation of individual situations in form of a time series.
  • Abandonment of classifications in favour of continuous meteorological parameters (e.g. the Monin-Obukhov length).
  • Replacement of the Gaussian model by a Lagrangian model.
  • Provision for topographical effects.
  • Modelling of NO/NO2 conversion.
  • Improved modelling of the dispersion and deposition of dust.

Now, after 21 years, major points of that former concept have been realised with the new TA Luft that comes into force tomorrow, October 1, 2002. Maybe one should meet again in the mountains and discuss how the dispersion model of the TA Luft should develop over the next 20 years.

September 30, 2002, Lutz Janicke

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 AUSTAL2000  AUSTAL2000N  AUSTAL  TA Luft  atmospheric dispersion