A concentration correction scheme for Lagrangian particle model and its application in street canyon air dispersion modelling

Pollutant dispersion in street canyons with various configurations was simulated by discharging a large number of particles into the computation domain after developing a time-dependent wind field. Trajectory of the released particles was predicted using a Lagrangian particle model developed in an earlier study. A concentration correction scheme, based on the concept of “visibility”, was adopted for the Lagrangian particle model to correct the calculated pollutant concentration field in street canyons. The corrected concentrations compared favourably with those from wind tunnel experiments and a linear relationship between the computed concentrations and wind tunnel data were found. The developed model was then applied to four simulations to test for the suitability of the correction scheme and to study pollutant distribution in street canyons with different configurations. For those cases with obstacles presence in the computation domain, the correction scheme gives more reasonable results compared with the one without using it. Different flow regimes are observed in the street canyons, which depend on building configurations. A counter-clockwise rotating vortex may appear in a two-building case with wind flow from left to right, causing lower pollutant concentration at the leeward side of upstream building and higher concentration at the windward side of downstream building. On the other hand, a stable clockwise rotating vortex is formed in the street canyon with multiple identical buildings, resulting in poor natural ventilation in the street canyon. Moreover, particles emitted in the downstream canyon formed by buildings with large height-to-width ratios will be transported to upstream canyons.     

Pollutant dispersion in urban street canopies

The effects of building configurations on pollutant dispersion around street canopies were studied numerically. The dispersion of pollutants emitted from ground sources was simulated by continuously discharging large number of particles into the computation domain. The mean wind velocities at each time-step were firstly computed by solving the time-dependent incompressible Navier–Stokes equations, while the fluctuated velocities were determined using a statistical procedure. The trajectories of the discharged particles were obtained from a Lagrangian particle model. Three categories of numerical simulation were conducted to study the effect of different canopy geometries on the pollutant dispersion. The computed wind field data were consistent with the wind field characteristics described in the previous wind tunnel studies. A counter-clockwise vortex was found resulting in high pollutant concentration at the windward side of the downstream building of the street canopy and low pollutant concentration at the leeward side of the upstream building. The increase in height of the urban roughness buildings would facilitate the pollutant dispersion in urban street canopy under certain building configurations. Two or more vortices stacked vertically in a street canopy were found when height of the upstream and downstream buildings of a street canopy was increased, preventing pollutants from escaping out of the canopy.     

Impact of building facades and ground heating on wind flow and pollutant transport in street canyons

This paper investigates the impacts of building facades and ground heating on the wind flow and pollutant transport in street canyons using the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) technique. Street canyons of H/W (H representing the building height and W the street width) varied from 0.1 to 2, which covered the basic flow regimes of skimming flow (H/W=1 or 2), wake interference flow (H/W=0.5), and isolated roughness flow (H/W=0.1), were examined in a series of sensitivity tests. Heating that occurred on different surfaces, including ground surface and building façades, posed considerable effects on the street canyon wind flow and pollutant transport compared with those under isothermal conditions. The CFD results showed that the mechanically induced wind flow and pollutant transport were complicated by the buoyancy under temperature stratification. Individual street canyons of different H/W and surface-heating scenarios exhibited their unique wind flow structure and pollutant transport behaviors. Two counter-rotating vortices were calculated in the street canyons of H/W=1, in which the zone of higher pollutant concentration under isothermal conditions was switched from the leeward side to the windward side. In the street canyon of H/W=2, the recirculating wind pattern was perturbed by surface heating that led to the development of either one primary vortex or three closely coupled vortices. Because of the complicated wind structure, the zones of higher pollutant concentration located either on the leeward or windward ground level were subjected to the surface-heating scenarios. Only two vortices were developed inside the street canyon of H/W=0.5. The large primary vortex, centered inside the street canyon, extended above the roof level of the street canyon. Meanwhile, a small secondary vortex was found at the ground-level windward corner whose size results as a function of surface-heating configurations. Finally, in the street canyon of H/W=0.1, an isolated clockwise-rotating vortex was developed beside the leeward building while the wind in the windward side blew in the prevailing wind direction. As a result, air pollutant emitted at the street centerline was unlikely to be carried into the leeward vortex. Instead, it was dispersed rapidly on the windward side before being removed from the street canyon.     

A simple network approach to modelling dispersion among large groups of obstacles

A simple network approach has been developed to simulate the movement of pollutant within urban areas. The model uses estimates of pollutant exchange obtained from velocity measurements in experiments with various regular obstacle arrays. The transfer of tracer material was modelled using concepts of advection along streets, well-mixed flow properties within street segments and exchange velocities (akin to aerodynamic conductances) across side and top facets of the street segments.The results predicted both the centreline concentration and lateral dispersion of the tracer with reasonable accuracy for a range of packing densities and wind directions. The basic model's concentration predictions were accurate to better than a factor of two in all cases for the region from two obstacle rows behind a source located within the array to around eight rows behind, a range of distances that falls into the so-called “neighbourhood-scale” for dispersion problems. The results supported the use of parameterized rates of exchange between regions of flow as being useful for fast, approximate dispersion modelling. It was thought that the effects of re-entrainment of tracer back into the canopy were of significance, but modelling designed to incorporate these effects did not lead to general improvements to the modelling for these steady-state source experiments.The model's limitations were also investigated. Chief amongst these was that it worked poorly among tall buildings where the well-mixed assumption within street segments was inadequate.     

Pollutant dispersion in idealized city models with different urban morphologies

The mechanism of pollutant dispersion in idealized city models is investigated numerically by the introduction of a uniformly distributed pollutant source at street pedestrian level. We first study three short city forms with a single main street or two crossing streets, characterized by street length/street height ratios of L/H = 6 or 7 and a street height/street width ratio of H/W = 1, including a sharp-edged round city model, a smooth-edged round city model, and a sharp-edged square city model. For short city models with a single street and a parallel approaching wind, pollutant dilution mainly depends on the horizontal flow rate which decreases along the street. This decreasing rate is smallest for the smooth-edged round city model, which results in the lowest street concentrations. For city models with two crossing streets and the approaching wind parallel to the main street, the differences in overall city form result in different dispersion processes. For a sharp-edged round city model with two crossing streets, an approaching wind slightly non-parallel to the main street generates a lower pollutant concentration in the entire street volume. We also studied a sharp-edged round city model with one narrow street (L/H = 6; H/W = 6.7), finding that the uniformly distributed pollutants are transported from two street entries to the city centre, and are then removed out across the street roof. In contrast to the short city models we studied a single-street sharp-edged long rectangular city model (L/H = 21.7; H/W = 1) in which the horizontal flow rate remained nearly constant in a region far from the two entries. Within this region the turbulence across the street roof contributed more to the pollutant removal than vertical mean flows.     

Effect of urban morphology on wind condition in idealized city models

Wind conditions in urban environments are important for a number of reasons. They can serve to transport air pollutants out of the urban environment and to moderate urban microclimatic conditions if satisfactory, yet can compromise pedestrian comfort and safety if not. We aim to study experimentally and numerically the effects of urban morphology (e.g., overall city form (skyline), street orientation, and street configuration) on wind conditions in cities. This report considers our initial investigations of two idealized city forms that are coincidentally similar to ancient Roman cities that were organized on one or two primary streets – a main north–south street, the cardus maximus, and a secondary east–west street, the decumanus maximus – and contained within a well-defined perimeter.We first consider round and square city models with one main street set parallel to the approaching wind and a secondary street producing an intersection at city centre. Not surprisingly, wind conditions in the two city models are dissimilar due to their shape differences. We then consider a long rectangular city model with a fully developed steady flow region along the main street. If the main street of the round city model is narrow, the parallel approaching wind cannot blow through the entire street and a penetrating inflow exists at the leeward opening. For the round city model with two crossing streets, a slightly non-parallel wind to the main street generates a stronger wind level in the entire street volume.     

Air pollution dispersion within urban street canyons

A semi-empirical mathematical model, Urban Street Model (USM), is proposed to efficiently estimate the dispersion of vehicular air pollution in cities. This model describes urban building arrangements by combining building density, building heights and the permeability of building arrangements relative to wind flow. To estimate the level of air pollution in the city of Krasnoyarsk (in Eastern Siberia), the spatial distribution of pollutant concentrations off roadways is calculated using Markov's processes in USM. The USM-predicted numerical results were compared with field measurements and with results obtained from other frequently used models, CALINE-4 and OSPM. USM consistently yielded the best results. OSPM usually overestimated pollutant concentration values. CALINE-4 consistently underestimated these values. For OSPM, the maximum differences were 160% and for CALINE-4 about 400%. Permeability and building density are necessary parameters for accurately modeling urban air pollution and influencing regulatory requirements for building planning.     

The distribution characteristics of pollutants released at different cross-sectional positions of a river

The distribution characteristics of heavier or lighter pollutants released at different cross-sectional positions of a wide river is investigated with a well-tested three-dimensional numerical model of gravity flows based on Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations and turbulence k-? model. By focusing on investigating the influences of flow and buoyancy on pollutants, it is found that while carrying by the river flow downstream: i) a heavier pollutant released from the cross-sectional side position, forms transverse oscillation between two banks with decreased amplitude, i.e. forms kind of helical flow pattern along the straight part of channel bed; ii) a heavier pollutant released from the cross-sectional middle position, forms collapse oscillation in the middle of the straight channel part with reduced amplitude; iii) in the downstream sinuous channel, heavier pollutant is of higher concentration on the outer side of channel bends; iv) a light pollutant released from the cross-sectional side position, slips partly to the other side of the river, resulting in higher concentrations on two sides of the channel top; v) a light pollutant released from the cross-sectional middle position, splits into two parts symmetrically along two sides of the channel top; vi) in the downstream sinuous channel, light pollutant presents higher concentration on the inner side of channel bends. These findings may assist in cost-effective scientific countermeasures to be taken for accidental or planned pollutant releases into a river.     

Strategic guidelines for street canyon geometry to achieve sustainable street air quality

This paper is concerned with the motion of air within the urban street canyon and is directed towards a deeper understanding of pollutant dispersion with respect to various simple canyon geometries and source positions. Taking into account the present days typical urban configurations, three principal flow regimes “isolated roughness flow”, “skimming flow” and “wake interference flow” (Boundary Layer Climates, 2nd edition, Methuen, London) and their corresponding pollutant dispersion characteristics are studied for various canopies aspect ratios, namely relative height (h₂/h₁), canyon height to width ratio (h/w) and canyon length to height ratio (l/h). A field-size canyon has been analyzed through numerical simulations using the standard k-ε turbulence closure model. It is found that the pollutant transport and diffusion is strongly dependent upon the type of flow regime inside the canyon and exchange between canyon and the above roof air. Some rules of thumbs have been established to get urban canyon geometries for efficient dispersion of pollutants.     

Strategic guidelines for street canyon geometry to achieve sustainable street air quality

This paper is concerned with the motion of air within the urban street canyon and is directed towards a deeper understanding of pollutant dispersion with respect to various simple canyon geometries and source positions. Taking into account the present days typical urban configurations, three principal flow regimes “isolated roughness flow”, “skimming flow” and “wake interference flow” (Boundary Layer Climates, 2nd edition, Methuen, London) and their corresponding pollutant dispersion characteristics are studied for various canopies aspect ratios, namely relative height (h₂/h₁), canyon height to width ratio (h/w) and canyon length to height ratio (l/h). A field-size canyon has been analyzed through numerical simulations using the standard k-ε turbulence closure model. It is found that the pollutant transport and diffusion is strongly dependent upon the type of flow regime inside the canyon and exchange between canyon and the above roof air. Some rules of thumbs have been established to get urban canyon geometries for efficient dispersion of pollutants.     

Impacts of Upstream Building Width and Upwind Building Arrangements on Airflow and Pollutant Dispersion in a Street Canyon

A two-dimensional numerical model for evaluating the wind flow and pollutant dispersion within a street canyon was first developed using the FLUENT code, which was then validated against a wind tunnel experiment. Then, the effects of the upstream building width and upwind building arrangement on the airflow and pollutant dispersion inside an isolated street canyon were investigated numerically. The numerical results revealed that: (1) the in-canyon vortex center shifts downwards as the upstream building width increases; (2) the recirculation zone covers the entire upstream building roof for the cases when W/H = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 (W is the upstream building width and H is the building height), whereas the flow reattaches the upstream building roof for the cases when W/H = 2.5 and 3.0; (3) when the upstream building width is shorter than the critical width W_C (= 2H), an increase in the upstream building width leads to an increase in the pollution level on the leeward wall of the canyon and a decrease in the roof-level concentrations at the upstream building; (4) when the upstream building width is longer than the critical width, the roof-level concentrations at the upstream building are negligibly small and the pollution level on the leeward wall of the canyon is almost unaffected by a further increase in the upstream building width; (5) when the buildings are placed upwind of the canyon, the flow attaches the upstream building roof and, therefore, almost none of the pollutants are distributed on the upstream building roof; and (6) the pollution levels inside the canyon and on the downstream building roof increase significantly with the number of upwind buildings.     

Variability of Nox and No2 concentrations observed at pedestrian level in the city centre of a medium sized urban area

NO_x and NO₂ concentrations were measured at different locations in a city centre of an urban zone (Population 450 000) in order to study the variation of the outdoor exposure at pedestrian level. These measurements were carried out to understand the influence of traffic emissions at each measured site. The observations were done during four weeks in winter, including several days with high pollution levels. The results at different locations have been used to analyse criteria recommended for locating observation sites in a monitoring network. No large differences in background pollution averaged over several weeks have been found throughout the city centre, even during pollution peaks. Measurements were also carried out inside one street canyon. The contribution of the street traffic to the NO=NO_x−NO₂ concentrations observed at side-walk has been found important, i.e., several times the background level. On the other hand, the majority of observed NO₂ pollution is due to the contribution of background pollution within the street. The pollutant excess at pedestrian level is strongly correlated to the street traffic emission and to the atmospheric turbulence observed at roof level. Application of a box model to the street data demonstrates that such models can be useful to estimate the pollutant accumulation within the street.     

A Wind Tunnel Study of Gaseous Pollutants in City Street Canyons

Steady state mean concentrations of tracer gas were measured in a 400:1 scale model of an idealized city with variable geometry placed within a wind tunnel at various orientations to the mean flow for a free stream velocity of 6.8 ft/sec. The tracer gas was released from two parallel line sources to simulate lanes of traffic in an effort to quantify the persistence of pollution as well as the mean values realized at street levels. An aerodynamically rough turbulent boundary layer of neutral thermal stratification was employed to simulate the atmosphere. Values of concentration measured in the model city were converted to prototype concentrations in ppm and compared to National Ambient Air Quality Standards. It was shown that single isolated structures may cause favorable mixing of pollution downwind but very high concentrations exist in the immediate leeward vicinity of the building. Two favorable geometries for city blocks tested were found to reduce pedestrian exposure to pollution both near heavy traffic congestion and downwind. It was concluded that the pollutant dilution was controlled by the mean flow rather than by turbulent diffusion and that the lateral spread of the plume was slight as one proceeded downwind of the line source. The combination of favorable geometry and higher dilution velocities may bring pollution levels down to existing Air Quality Standards. The body of information presented in this paper should interest city planners and air quality monitoring personnel, as well as those researchers attempting to study and model flow in city street canyons. It provides order of magnitude estimates on pedestrian and office worker exposure to pollutants under a wide range of conditions.     

Modeling mobile source emissions during traffic jams in a micro urban environment

Urbanization typically involves a continuous increase in motor vehicle use, resulting in congestion known as traffic jams. Idling emissions due to traffic jams combine with the complex terrain created by buildings to concentrate atmospheric pollutants in localized areas. This research simulates emissions concentrations and distributions for a congested street in Minsk, Belarus. Ground-level (up to 50-meters above the street's surface) pollutant concentrations were calculated using STAR (version 3.10) with emission factors obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, wind speed and direction, and building location and size. Relative emissions concentrations and distributions were simulated at 1-meter and 10-meters above street level. The findings demonstrate the importance of wind speed and direction, and building size and location on emissions concentrations and distributions, with the leeward sides of buildings retaining up to 99 percent of the emitted pollutants within 1-meter of street level, and up to 77 percent 10-meters above the street.     

孤立与非孤立城市街道峡谷内污染物扩散

通过求解二维不可压N-S方程、k-ε方程及污染物对流扩散方程,模拟了孤立街道峡谷与非孤立街道峡谷内的流场及交通污染物浓度场.计算结果与风洞试验结果总体趋势一致.非孤立街道峡谷内污染物壁面浓度要大于孤立街道峡谷内的壁面浓度.通过计算街道峡谷建筑屋顶高度处的垂直方向污染物通量,说明了湍流扩散是污染物扩散出街道峡谷的主要原因,其污染物通量总为正,而平均流通量可以为负.非孤立街道峡谷由于平均流流动和湍流流动的总扩散通量减少,造成污染物在街道峡谷内集聚,从而理论上解释了非孤立街道峡谷与孤立街道峡谷污染扩散的差别.     

A multi-approach monitoring of particulate matter, metals and PAHs in an urban street canyon

For the first time until now, the results from a prediction model (Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling System (ADMS)-Road) of pollutant dispersion in a street canyon were compared to the results obtained from biomonitors. In particular, the instrumental monitoring of particulate matter (PM10) and the biomonitoring of 14 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and 11 metals by Quercus ilex leaves and Hypnum cupressiforme moss bags, acting as long- and short-term accumulators, respectively, were carried out. For both PAHs and metals, similar bioaccumulation trends were observed, with higher concentrations in biomonitors exposed at the leeward canyon side, affected by primary air vortex. The major pollutant accumulation at the leeward side was also predicted by the ADMS-Road model, on the basis of the prevailing wind direction that determines different exposure of the street canyon sides to pollutants emitted by vehicular traffic. A clear vertical (3, 6 and 9 m) distribution gradient of pollutants was not observed, so that both the model and biomonitoring results suggested that local air turbulences in the street canyon could contribute to uniform pollutant distribution at different heights.     

On the correlation of air and pollutant exchange for street canyons in combined wind-buoyancy-driven flow

The ventilation and pollutant transport in a two-dimensional (2D) street canyon of building-height-to-street-width (aspect) ratio h/b = 1 under different unstable stratifications were examined. To characterize the combined wind-buoyancy-driven flow and pollutant transport at different Richardson number Ri, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations with the Renormalization Group (RNG) k ? ε turbulence model was adopted. Unlike the isothermal condition, a secondary recirculation is initiated at the ground-level windward corner of the street canyon once the unstable stratification is switched on (Ri < 0). It traps the ground-level pollutant leading to elevated pollutant concentration there. As Ri further decreases, the enlarging secondary recirculation enables direct pollutant removal from its core to the shear layer that offsets the ground-level pollutant accumulation. The ventilation and pollutant removal performance under different unstable stratifications are compared by the air (ACH) and pollutant (PCH) exchange rates, and pollutant retention time (τ). Both the mean and turbulent components of ACH are found to increase with decreasing Ri, suggesting that unstable stratification promotes ventilation in street canyons. Moreover, the CFD results agree well with our theoretical model that ACH² varies linearly with Ri. Turbulent transport originally dominates the pollutant removal under isothermal condition. However, progressive domination of pollutant removal by mean wind can be observed with decreasing stability (decreasing Ri from 0 to ?10.6). The critical value is estimated to be Ri = ?8, below which mean wind is the major pollutant removal carrier. Reduction in τ is also observed with decreasing Ri. Hence, in unstable stratification, pollutant resides shorter time in the street canyon compared with its isothermal counterpart, and the ventilation and pollutant removal are more favorable.     

Numerical modeling on air quality in an urban environment with changes of the aspect ratio and wind direction

Due to heavy traffic emissions within an urban environment, air quality during the last decade becomes worse year by year and hazard to public health. In the present work, numerical modeling of flow and dispersion of gaseous emissions from vehicle exhaust in a street canyon were investigated under changes of the aspect ratio and wind direction. The three-dimensional flow and dispersion of gaseous pollutants were modeled using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model which was numerically solved using Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations. The diffusion flow field in the atmospheric boundary layer within the street canyon was studied for different aspect ratios (W/H?=?1/2, 3/4, and 1) and wind directions (θ?=?90°, 112.5°, 135°, and 157.5°). The numerical models were validated against wind tunnel results to optimize the turbulence model. The numerical results agreed well with the wind tunnel results. The simulation demonstrated that the minimum concentration at the human respiration height within the street canyon was on the windward side for aspect ratios W/H?=?1/2 and 1 and wind directions θ?=?112.5°, 135°, and 157.5°. The pollutant concentration level decreases as the wind direction and aspect ratio increase. The wind velocity and turbulence intensity increase as the aspect ratio and wind direction increase.     

Simulations of the impacts of building height layout on air quality in natural-ventilated rooms around street canyons

Numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the effects of building height ratio (i.e., HR, the height ratio of the upstream building to the downstream building) on the air quality in buildings beside street canyons, and both regular and staggered canyons were considered for the simulations. The results show that the building height ratio affects not only the ventilation fluxes of the rooms in the downstream building but also the pollutant concentrations around the building. The parameter, outdoor effective source intensity of a room, is then proposed to calculate the amount of vehicular pollutants that enters into building rooms. Smaller value of this parameter indicates less pollutant enters the room. The numerical results reveal that HRs from 2/7 to 7/2 are the favorable height ratios for the regular canyons, as they obtain smaller values than the other cases. While HR values of 5/7, 7/7, and 7/5 are appropriate for staggered canyons. In addition, in terms of improving indoor air quality by natural ventilation, the staggered canyons with favorable HR are better than those of the regular canyons.     

A field study of factors influencing the concentrations of a traffic-related pollutant in the vicinity of a complex urban junction

The paper describes a field study focused on the dispersion of a traffic-related pollutant within an area close to a busy intersection between two street canyons in Central London. Simultaneous measurements of airflow, traffic flow and carbon monoxide concentrations ([CO]) are used to explore the causes of spatial variability in [CO] over a full range of background wind directions. Depending on the roof-top wind direction, evidence of both flow channelling and recirculation regimes were identified from data collected within the main canyon and the intersection. However, at the intersection, the merging of channelled flows from the canyons increased the flow complexity and turbulence intensity. These features, coupled with the close proximity of nearby queuing traffic in several directions, led to the highest overall time-average measured [CO] occurring at the intersection. Within the main street canyon, the data supported the presence of a helical flow regime for oblique roof-top flows, leading to increased [CO] on the canyon leeward side. Predominant wind directions led to some locations having significantly higher diurnal average [CO] due to being mostly on the canyon leeward side during the study period. For all locations, small changes in the background wind direction could cause large changes in the in-street mean wind angle and local turbulence intensity, implying that dispersion mechanisms would be highly sensitive to small changes in above roof flows. During peak traffic flow periods, concentrations within parallel side streets were approximately four times lower than within the main canyon and intersection which has implications for controlling personal exposure. Overall, the results illustrate that pollutant concentrations can be highly spatially variable over even short distances within complex urban geometries, and that synoptic wind patterns, traffic queue location and building topologies all play a role in determining where pollutant hot spots occur.