Numerical Model Inter-comparison for Wind Flow and Turbulence Around Single-Block Buildings

Wind flow and turbulence within the urban canopy layer can influence the heating and ventilation of buildings, affecting the health and comfort of pedestrians, commuters and building occupants. In addition, the predictive capability of pollutant dispersion models is heavily dependent on wind flow models. For that reason, well-validated microscale models are needed for the simulation of wind fields within built-up urban microenvironments. To address this need, an inter-comparison study of several such models was carried out within the European research network ATREUS. This work was conducted as part of an evaluation study for microscale numerical models, so they could be further implemented to provide reliable wind fields for building energy simulation and pollutant dispersion codes. Four computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models (CHENSI, MIMO, VADIS and FLUENT) were applied to reduced-scale single-block buildings, for which quality-assured and fully documented experimental data were obtained. Simulated wind and turbulence fields around two surface-mounted cubes of different dimensions and wall roughness were compared against experimental data produced in the wind tunnels of the Meteorological Institute of Hamburg University under different inflow and boundary conditions. The models reproduced reasonably well the general flow patterns around the single-block buildings, although over-predictions of the turbulent kinetic energy were observed near stagnation points in the upwind impingement region. Certain discrepancies between the CFD models were also identified and interpreted. Finally, some general recommendations for CFD model evaluation and use in environmental applications are presented.     

Numerical simulation on pollutant dispersion from vehicle exhaust in street configurations

The impact of the street configurations on pollutants dispersion from vehicles exhausts within urban canyons was numerically investigated using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. Three-dimensional flow and dispersion of gaseous pollutants were modeled using standard kappa - epsilon turbulence model, which was numerically solved based on Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations by the commercial CFD code FLUENT. The concentration fields in the urban canyons were examined in three cases of street configurations: (1) a regular-shaped intersection, (2) a T-shaped intersection and (3) a Skew-shaped crossing intersection. Vehicle emissions were simulated as double line sources along the street. The numerical model was validated against wind tunnel results in order to optimize the turbulence model. Numerical predictions agreed reasonably well with wind tunnel results. The results obtained indicate that the mean horizontal velocity was very small in the center near the lower region of street canyon. The lowest turbulent kinetic energy was found at the separation and reattachment points associated with the corner of the down part of the upwind and downwind buildings in the street canyon. The pollutant concentration at the upwind side in the regular-shaped street intersection was higher than that in the T-shaped and Skew-shaped street intersections. Moreover, the results reveal that the street intersections are important factors to predict the flow patterns and pollutant dispersion in street canyon.     

Physical Modeling of Emissions from Naturally Ventilated Underground Parking Garages

The dispersion of pollutants from naturally ventilated underground parking garages has been studied in a boundary layer wind tunnel. Two idealized model setups have been analysed, one was simulating pollutant dispersion around an isolated rectangular building and one was representing dispersion in a finite array of idealized building blocks. Flow and dispersion close to modelled ground level emission sources was measured. The results illustrate the complexity of the flow around buildings and provide insight in pollutant transport from ground level sources located directly on building surfaces. As a result, areas critical with respect to high pollutant concentrations could be visualized. Particularly, the results show high concentration gradients on the surface of the buildings equipped with modelled emission sources. Inside the boundary layers on the building walls, a significant amount of pollutants is transported to upwind locations on the surface of the building. The paper documents the potential of physical modelling to be used for the simulation and measurement of dispersion close to emission sources and within complex building arrangements.     

Dispersion in Urban Environments; Comparison of Field Measurements with Wind Tunnel Results

A wind tunnel study was performed to determine the dispersion characteristics of vehicle exhaust gases within the urban canopy layer. The results were compared with those from a field monitoring station located in a street canyon with heavy traffic load. The agreement found was fair. In the second part of the paper it is shown how wind tunnel data can be utilized to supplement and thereby enhance the value of field data for model validation purposes. Uncertainty ranges were quantified which are inherent to mean concentration values measured in urban streets.     

Comparison of Numerical Street Dispersion Models with Results from Wind Tunnel and Field Measurements

Numerical dispersion models developed and validated in different European countries were applied to data sets from wind tunnel and field measurements. The comparison includes the Danish Operational Street Pollution Model (OSPM) and the microscale flow and dispersion model MISKAM. The latter is recommended for application in built-up areas in the draft of the new German guideline VDI 3782/8. In a first step the models were applied to simplified street configurations. Different parameters as length and height of adjacent buildings and the angle of the incoming flow were varied. The results were compared to recent wind tunnel measurements. In a second step the models were applied to two extensively investigated field data sets from Jagtvej, Copenhagen and G ttinger Straße, Hannover. Intensified and more transparent and accessible validation procedures would be helpful for the thorough user.     

Modelling Tracer Dispersion from Landfills

Several wind tunnel experiments of tracer dispersion from reduced-scale landfill models are presented in this paper. Different experimental set-ups, hot-wire anemometry, particle image velocimetry and tracer concentration measurements were used for the characterisation of flow and dispersion phenomena nearby the models. The main aim of these experiments is to build an extensive experimental data set useful for model validation purposes. To demonstrate the potentiality of the experimental data set, a validation exercise on several mathematical models was performed by means of a statistical technique. The experiments highlighted an increase in pollutant ground level concentrations immediately downwind from the landfill because of induced turbulence and mean flow deflection. This phenomenon turns out to be predominant for the dispersion process. Tests with a different set-up showed an important dependence of the dispersion phenomena from the landfill height and highlighted how complex orographic conditions downwind of the landfill do not affect significantly the dispersion behaviour. Validation exercises were useful for model calibration, improving code reliability, as well as evaluating performances. The Van Ulden model proved to give the most encouraging results.     

Effect of Building Orientations on Gaseous Dispersion in Street Canyon: a Numerical Study

This paper studies the effects of building orientations on the gaseous pollutant dispersion released from vehicles exhaust in street canyons through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulations using three k–ε turbulence models. Four building orientations of the street canyon were examined in the atmospheric boundary layer. The numerical results were validated against wind-tunnel results to optimize the turbulence models. The numerical results agreed well with the wind-tunnel results. The simulation demonstrated that the minimum concentration at the human respiration height in the street canyon was on the windward side for the building orientations θ?=?112.5°, 135°, and 157.5°. The pollutant concentration level decreases as the building orientation increases from θ?=?90°. The concentration in the cavity region for the building orientation θ?=?90° was higher than for the wind directions θ?=?112.5°, 135°, and 157.5°. The wind velocity and turbulence energy increase as the building orientation increases. The finding from this work can be used to help urban designers and policy-makers in several aspects.     

Flow and Pollutant Dispersion in Street Canyons using FLUENT and ADMS-Urban

This paper is devoted to the study of flow within a small building arrangement and pollutant dispersion in street canyons starting from the simplest case of dispersion from a simple traffic source. Flow results from the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code FLUENT are validated against wind tunnel data (CEDVAL). Dispersion results from FLUENT are analysed using the well-validated atmos pheric dispersion model ADMS-Urban. The k − ε turbulence model and the advection-diffusion (AD) method are used for the CFD simulations. Sensitivity of dispersion results to wind direction within street canyons of aspect ratio equal to 1 is investigated. The analysis shows that the CFD model well reproduces the wind tunnel flow measurements and compares adequately with ADMS-Urban dispersion predictions for a simple traffic source by using a slightly modified k − ε model. It is found that a Schmidt number of 0.4 is the most appropriate number for the simulation of a simple traffic source and in street canyons except for the case when the wind direction is perpendicular to the street canyon axis. For this last case a Schmidt number equal to 0.04 gives the best agreement with ADMS-Urban. Overall the modified k − ε turbulence model may be accurate for the simulation of pollutant dispersion in street canyons provided that an appropriate choice for coefficients in the turbulence model and the Schmidt number in the diffusion model are made.     

Evaluation of Locations for Small Wind Turbines in Costal Urban Areas Based on a Wind Energy Potential Map

The purpose of the study was to evaluate potential locations for the installation of small wind turbines in urban areas. Four study sites in An-Ping, Tainan were chosen for measurement in this empirical study. The measurement data were used to verify the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. The weather information was gathered in order to understand the overall wind environment in the studied area. CFD software was used to simulate the wind environment in the study area from 16 directions. The distribution of wind environment was first presented, and then the distribution of exceedance probability in each grid, which was based on an exceedance probability assessment, was obtained. In addition to the installation heights of the turbines, the influence of surrounding buildings was taken into consideration. Finally, a wind energy potential map indicating the potential regions and non-potential regions for installing small wind turbines was illustrated by the ArcGIS system. A wind energy potential map, superimposed with locations of buildings of different floor heights, was used to evaluate the possible sites for the installment of small wind turbines at heights of 10, 20, and 30 m. The results proved that installing micro wind turbines in open spaces and on the roofs of three-, four-, and five-story buildings at a height of 20 m is relatively beneficial for coastal urban areas.     

公路隧道可吸入颗粒物扩散模型研究

运用大气扩散理论,得到了隧道内自然通风和纵向通风状态下的可吸入颗粒物(PM10)扩散模型,并由隧道口PM10浓度、隧道截面积、隧道内风速,以及车流量和类型等参数,获得了整条隧道内的不同PM10浓度分布.模型表明,随着隧道深度的增加,PM10浓度逐渐增大.通过采用纵向通风的玄武湖隧道各参数,得到了3组不同条件下的PM10扩散模型,并用所得模型计算了隧道内不同深度处PM10的浓度.沿隧道不同深度测得的PM10浓度值的比较结果表明,实际测定值围绕计算值上下波动,两者之间具有良好的一致性.     

A Numerical Study of Airflow and Pollutant Dispersion Inside an Urban Street Canyon Containing an Elevated Expressway

The goal of this study is to investigate numerically the wind flow and pollutant dispersion within an urban street canyon containing an elevated expressway and reveal the impacts of elevated expressway on the atmospheric environment in the canyon. A two-dimensional numerical model for simulating airflow and pollutant dispersion inside urban street canyons is first developed based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations coupled with the standard k???ε turbulence model and the convection–diffusion equation for passive species transport, and then it is validated against a wind tunnel experiment. It was found that the model-predicted results agree well with the experimental data. Having established this, the wind fields and pollutant distributions in the canyon containing an elevated expressway are evaluated. The numerical results show that the expressway height above the street floor and the gap distance between the expressway and the building wall have considerable influence on airflow and pollutant level inside a canyon: (1) the vortical flow structure in the canyon varies with the expressway height for a constant gap distance, under certain expressway heights, only one main clockwise vortex is formed, while under others one main vortex as well as one or two secondary vortices above and below the expressway are created; (2) the pollutant level within the canyon increases when an expressway is placed in the canyon, especially when the expressway height equals the building height the flow velocities in the canyon are drastically reduced and air exchange in and above the canyon is seriously impeded by the expressway, which leads to a much higher pollution level in the canyon; and (3) the wider gap distance is favorable to pollutant removal from the canyon.     

On the Performance and Applicability of Nonlinear Two-Equation Turbulence Models for Urban Air Quality Modelling

It is well known that the commonly used k- turbulence models yield inaccurate predictions for complex flow fields. One reason for this inaccuracy is the misrepresentation of Reynolds stress differences. Nonlinear turbulence models are capable to overcome this weakness while being not considerably more complex. However no comprehensive studies are known which analyze the performance of nonlinear turbulence models for three-dimensional flows around building-shaped structures. In the present study the predictions of the flow around a surface-mounted cube using three nonlinear two-equation turbulence models are discussed. The results are compared with predictions of the standard k- turbulence model and wind tunnel measurements. It is shown that the use of nonlinear turbulence models can be beneficial in predicting wind flows around buildings.     

Simulation of Wind Circulation and Pollutant Diffusion Over the Pearl River Delta Region

Changes in urban surface areas and population growth have significantly affected the weather and environment. Emissions of nitrogen oxides are increasing in the Pearl River Delta region. Nitrogen compounds emitted by factories and motor vehicles are the major sources of nitric pollution. To study the impacts of urbanization and the relationship between pollutant diffusion and the atmospheric environment, the nonhydrostatic mesoscale forecast model MM5 (v3.73), which was developed by Penn State University and the National Center of Atmospheric Research, and a mass continuity equation for air pollutants, were used in this study. Two experiments were designed. One experiment (BE) applied horizontal grid resolutions of 27, 9, 3, and 1?km in four nested domains. The other experiment adopted new land-use data (in domain 4) directly retrieved from Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery to replace the 1980s data of the United States Geological Survey in BE. A 48-h simulation (from 0000?UTC on 21 October to 0000?UTC on 23 October 2008) was conducted, with the first 12?h being the spin-up time and the remaining 36?h being the effective simulation, so as to capture the diurnal features of the thermally induced winds associated with the land–sea breeze and urban heat island circulations. The different results obtained from the two tests for wind circulation and air pollution dispersion and transportation in the Pearl River Delta region were analyzed. The simulated results show that the both experiments can well simulate land–sea breeze circulation and remarkable land–sea breeze evolution, comparing with observation data. The height of the PBL had a significant diurnal cycle. The structure of the wind field can obviously impact the dispersion of the NO _x in three dimensions. Nitrogen oxides mainly diffused along the dominant wind direction (east or southeast wind), therefore the majority of the pollutants accumulated in the northwest region of the fine domain in both simulation experiments. However, it induced the pollutants concentration in an irregular pattern due to the fine-resolution grid spaces and complicated inland wind field in the northwest area of the inner domain. Moreover, increasing the proportion of urban surface caused sensible heat flux increase, latent heat flux decrease and humility reducing relatively in the region of urban surface characteristics apparently. Urbanization will cause pollution accumulated severely over the urban surface.     

Numerical Modeling of Flow Fields and Dispersion of Passive Pollutants in the Vicinity of the Temelín Nuclear Power Plant

This study deals with numerical simulation of flow fields and dispersion of model passive admixtures in the planetary boundary layer in a 10 × 10 km square area, centered on the Czech Republic’s Temelín Nuclear Power Plant. Numerical calculations of three-dimensional flow fields with eight basic wind directions given for the inlet boundary of the computational domain are performed using the FLUENT CFD code with the standard k – ε turbulence model. The resultant modeling of the flow fields provides information as to probable local directions and velocities of flow vectors on a horizontal scale of 100 m, which are consistent with the data given for the boundaries of the calculation area in the framework of a scale of 10 km. The modeled flow fields generate the input data for related Lagrangian simulation of the ground concentration and deposition fields of passive particles assumedly emitted at the site of the Temelín plant. Simulated plumes describe eight cases of potential ground-level distribution of model passive admixtures in the area.     

Effects of the homogeneous traffic on vertical dispersion parameter in the near field of roadways – A wind tunnel study

The vertical dispersion parameter of Pasquill–Gifford needs some modification in the close vicinity of urban roadways by considering the influence of traffic-induced turbulence. Wind tunnel simulation experiments have been carried out with controlled traffic parameters to evaluate traffic-induced effect on vertical dispersion parameter (σ_z) in the near field of roadways. The aerodynamic similarities in atmospheric flow, vehicles size and speeds have been considered with appropriate similarity criteria. The tracer gas experiments have been performed to evaluate σ_z in the near field of the roadways for variable traffic volumes and two approaching wind directions (i.e. 90^○ and 60^○). The results showed that the value of σ_z increased monotonically with increase in traffic volumes and becomes nearly constant at a particular downwind distance. It has also been found that the σ_z was considerably affected by approaching wind directions. Further, the comparison of experimental σ_z values for both approaching wind directions with those of Chock (1978) and Rao and Keenan (1980), showed an agreement within ±15%.     

Multi-scale Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling by Use of Adaptive Gridding Techniques

An accurate prediction of the transport-reaction behaviour of atmospheric chemical species is required to fully understand the impact on the environment of pollution emissions. Elevated levels of secondary pollutants such as ozone in the lower atmosphere can be harmful to the health of both plants and animals, and can cause damage to property present in the urban environment. Detailed models of pollution mechanisms must therefore be developed through comparisons with field measurements to aid the selection of effective abatement policies. Such models must satisfy accuracy requirements both in terms of the number of species represented, and the spatial resolution of species profiles. Computational expense often compels current models to sacrifice detail in one of these areas. This paper attempts to address the latter point by presenting an atmospheric transport-reaction modelling strategy based upon a finite volume discretisation of the atmospheric dispersion equation. The source terms within this equation are provided by an appropriate reduced chemical scheme modelling the major species in the boundary layer. Reaction and transport discretisations are solved efficiently via a splitting technique applied at the level of the non-linear equations. The solution grid is generated using time dependant adaptive techniques, which provide a finer grid around regions of high spatial error in order to adequately resolve species concentration profiles. The techniques discussed are applied in two dimensions employing emissions from both point and area sources. Preliminary results show that the application of adaptive gridding techniques to atmospheric dynamics modelling can provide more accurately resolved species concentration profiles, accompanied by a reduced CPU time invested in solution. Such a model will provide the basis for high resolution studies of the multiple scale interactions between spatially inhomogeneous source patterns in urban and regional environments.     

Near Field Dispersion in the Urban Environment - A Hydraulic Flume Study

The dispersion of material released from a point source immediately upwind of an obstacle array has been examined in a hydraulic flume with a low level of background turbulence. The main purpose of the experiments was to examine the interaction of the plume and the internal boundary layer (IBL) created over the obstacle array. The obstacle array consisted of 11 rows of cubes at 16% packing density in a staggered arrangement. Plume dispersion was measured using flow visualization with Rhodamine dye and also with a thermal tracer technique. During the experiments the source release height was varied between z = 0 and z = 4H, where H is the obstacle height. For the low-level releases, the upper boundary of the plume followed the growth of the IBL over the array. For higher level releases (z/H 2) the rate of plume growth was much reduced until the point downstream where it descended into the IBL, after which it experienced the intense turbulent mixing within the array. This suggests that the urban lateral spread parameter _y should be a strong function of height in situations where the turbulence level in the ambient approach flow is low. These results highlight the importance of the ambient turbulence even in strongly obstacle-affected dispersion.     

Dispersion of Pollutants in Street Canyon under Traffic Induced Flow and Turbulence

A 3-D Eulerian-Lagrangian approach to moving vehicles is presented that takes into account the traffic induced flow rate and turbulence. The method is applied to pollutants dispersion in a street canyon. The approach is based on CFD calculations using Eulerian approach to the continuous phase and Lagrangian approach to the "discrete phase" of moving objects - vehicles. A commercial CFD code StarCD was used into which the Lagrangian model was integrated. As an example a street canyon is taken into consideration. It has the length of 50 m and the aspect ratio of 1.27. The speed of wind was assigned values of 4, 7 and 12 m/s at the altitude of 300 m. The total height of the domain is 115 m. In the study different traffic situations are considered, namely one-way and two-way traffic with different traffic rates per lane. The predictions show that different traffic situations affect pollutants dispersion in the street canyon and that there are also differences in the pollutants dispersion in case of one- and two-way traffic.     

Evaluation of a Gaussian-modified dispersion model for atmospheric release from the Marcoule nuclear site

This paper presents a mathematical model of local pollutant dispersion designed to compute the concentration field above and around the Marcoule nuclear site. The model is based on integrating the classical turbulent diffusion equation, corrected (prior to integration) by experimental wind tunnel data obtained for a scaled-down model of the site. The computed results are compared with full-scale experimental observations at Marcoule in the case of neutral atmosphere. A comparison with the standard Gaussian model is also made. Finally, a critical analysis of the model is presented. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.