Problem

Ammonia volatilization from animal excretion in agriculture is a major source of loss of nitrogen, which must be replaced by the supply of fertilizer. On the other hand, ammonia emissions stress the environment.

From a ammonia flow model developed at the College of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (HAFL) on behalf of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) a simulation software for users in research, agriculture and government agencies was to be developed.

Solution

Together with Bonjour Engineering GmbH we defined a human- and machine-readable form for the modular description of the various processes represented in the flow model.

From these module descriptions both the simulation model and the user front-end of the web application for entering the operating parameters are dynamically created at program startup. Online help information about the input parameters help the user to utilize the model.

The simulation results can be displayed in the web application in tabular or graphical form or exported in Excel / CSV format or as PDF report. The data stored in a database can be shared with other users.

Impact and Benefits

• The simulation model can be adapted to the latest scientific findings by agricultural experts by modifying or extending the module descriptions without programming effort.
• The dynamically generated documentation (PDF document) is always synchronized with the calculation methods used for the simulation.
• In a version of the model specially adapted to the needs of governmental authorities, an automatic exchange of data between users (applicants) and the authority is possible.

Links

More information on this project can be found on the Agrammon home page. The model is freely accessible via the Agrammon start page.