This report describes the analysis of the various modules embedded in the SMOKE-WRF-CAMx air quality modeling system. The system is employed at RSE for predicting the deposition of pollutants on high-voltage overhead power line insulators.

In this work are presented the results obtained from the application of an obstacle-scale model, developed to estimate the amount of pollutants deposited on insulators surface, a thermodynamic model, that is able to simulate phase transitions of the deposit and thus estimating conductivity, and a module adopted in order to simulate dust atmospheric aerosol, contributing to the estimation of NSDD.

The first module was analyzed together with a reference model. The comparison highlighted the importance of the obstacle geometry in order to accurately reconstruct the phenomenon. Further model developments will pay specific attention to these aspects, also recurring to fluid-dynamic models.

The second module that was tested is the thermodynamic module ISORROPIA II modified by RSE, which in perspective will be integrated downstream of the obstacle model. The modified version showed an improvement in reconstructing the deliquescence curves of single salts (magnesium, sulfate, potassium, and calcium) and the three Italian macro-regions, highlighting the suitability of this model to reconstruct the phenomena determining conductivity on insulator surfaces.

The analysis of the dust component module was performed by comparing two approaches: the current one, as long-range transport from the boundary condition contribution, and the explicit dust emissions. The results seem to suggest that the current approach fulfills all the requirements in order to reconstruct the dust concentrations on the Italian territory, making the use of an explicit emission model unnecessary.

Finally, the entire air quality forecast simulation was validated against observation, for the calendar year 2023. The simulation was obtained by means of the SMOKE-WRF-CAMx air quality modeling system, which will be also used to update the integrated map of surface contamination of insulators. Once again, the modeling system proved to be suitable for this purpose.

The document is available on the site in Italian