Volumetric Gas Monitoring through an IR Laser Network for the Control of the Gas Emission Flux by Sensitive Areas: Methods and Simulation Results

A measurement approach for estimating the emission flux by gas soil sources, based on the use of IR laser measurements over optical links and atmospheric diffusion models is presented. An ad hoc disposition of the optical links close to the emission area allows the tomographic estimation of the gas concentration over a closed surface corresponding to an air volume that covers the emission area. The real time concentration measurements over this closed surface allow us to estimate the emission flux of the emission area, once the atmospheric diffusion conditions are known. In this paper, we present some simulation results assuming that the plane surfaces where laser measurements are made are the faces of a parallelepiped. Simulations are based on diffusion models where the air diffusion and transportation phenomena are due to the horizontal wind.