This paper presents the performance of a CFD model for the near field dispersion of odor from rooftop emissions. The FLUENT Shear-Stress Transport (SST hereinafter) k-ω turbulence model was used to simulate odor dispersion from a rooftop odor vent. The results were compared with a wind tunnel experiment and the calculated results of ASHRAE 2003 and 2007. The FLUENT SST k-ω turbulence model provided good results for making reasonable predictions about the building rooftop surface normalized dilution. It was found that increasing the vent height (from 1 m to 7 m) reduces rooftop surface normalized dilution. ASHRAE 2003 and ASHRAE 2007 performance measures are generally not as good as FLUENT SST k-ω turbulence model performance measures, with larger MG (the geometric mean bias, VG (the geometric variance), NMSE (the normalized mean square error), FB (Fractional bias), and smaller FAC2 (the fraction of predictions within a factor of two of observations).

In this study we investigated odor (hydrogen sulfide) dispersion around a cubic building by using commercial FLUENT CFD code. The FLUENT Shear-Stress Transport (hereafter SST) k-ω turbulence model was used to simulate odor dispersion from an odor source. The results were compared with a wind tunnel experiment and other simulation results. SST k-ω turbulence model provided good grounds for making reasonable predictions about the building surface concentrations and concentration profiles of selected leeward positions of the cubic building. It was found that a vent, which was positioned 7 m above the top of the square building center, decreased the plume length lower by 0.73 and increased the plume height by 1.43 compared to roof top vents. It was also found that by increasing the vent height there a corresponding decrease in the maximum dimensionless concentration around the roof surface.