University of Calgary and Highwood Emissions Management
June 20, 2022
Executive Summary
The objective of the Intelligent Methane Monitoring and Management System (IM3S) Project was to develop new knowledge and tools to design, simulate, and evaluate the performance of fugitive emissions management programs (FEMPs). The main technical work focused on improvements to the Leak Detection and Repair Simulator (LDAR-Sim), an open-source modeling system for simulating FEMPs, and increased accessibility so users can run simulations online via standard web browsers.
Outputs from the technical work are LDAR-Sim 2.0 and ldarsim.com. LDAR-Sim 2.0 is the next iteration of the modeling system that includes refactored code to improve structure and implementation, new inputs and modules to increase the scope of FEMP configurations that can be simulated, economic functions to evaluate program costs, and technical documentation. The entire open-source codebase is available for users and developers via GitHub.
ldarsim.com is the web application of LDAR-Sim that was developed to increase accessibility for users who want to learn and explore different FEMP configurations without requiring familiarity with the codebase and Python programming language. Users can sign-up for a free account to use the web application. Once signed-in, users are prompted through a series of steps and drop-down menus to design custom FEMPs using different methods. Results are displayed in graphical form and available for download. The pre-deployment web application was evaluated by a test group and their feedback was incorporated into the final version.