Sensitivity analysis in pollution dispersion within street canyons

The objective of this study is to investigate numerically the effect of building roof shaps on wind flow and pollutant dispersion in a street canyon with one row of trees of pore volume, <TEX>$P_{vol}=96%$</TEX>. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is used to evaluate air flow and pollutant dispersion within an urban street canyon using Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations and the Explicit Algebraic Reynolds Stress Models (EARSM) based on k-<TEX>${\varepsilon}$</TEX> turbulence model to close the equation system. The numerical model is performed with ANSYS-CFX code. Vehicle emissions were simulated as double line sources along the street. The numerical model was validated by the wind tunnel experiment results. Having established this, the wind flow and pollutant dispersion in urban street canyons (with six roof shapes buildings) are simulated. The numerical simulation results agree reasonably with the wind tunnel data. The results obtained in this work, indicate that the flow in 3D domain is more complicated; this complexity is increased with the presence of trees and variability of the roof shapes. The results also indicated that the largest pollutant concentration level for two walls (leeward and windward wall) is observed with the upwind wedge-shaped roof. But the smallest pollutant concentration level is observed with the dome roof-shaped.

Influence of avenue trees on traffic pollutant dispersion in asymmetric street canyons: Numerical modeling with empirical analysis

Impact of height and shape of building roof on air quality in urban street canyons

Numerical simulations of the impact of tree planting on airflow and traffic pollutant dispersion in urban street canyons have been performed using the commercial CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) code MISKAM. A k-e turbulence model including additional terms for the treatment of vegetation, has been employed to close the Reynolds-averaged-Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. The numerical results were compared to wind tunnel data. In the case of the investigated wind direction perpendicular to the street axis, the presence of trees lead to increased pollutant concentrations inside the canyon. Concentrations increased strongly on the upstream side of the canyon, while on the downstream side a small concentration decrease could be observed. Lower flow velocities and higher pollutant concentrations were found in the numerical simulations when directly compared to the experimental results. However, the impact of tree planting on airflow and concentration fields when compared to the treeless street canyon as a reference configuration were simulated quite well, meaning that relative changes were similar in the wind tunnel investigations and numerical computations. This feature qualifies MISKAM for use as a tool for assessing the impacts of vegetation on local air quality.

Numerical investigation of the impact of urban trees on O3–NOx–VOCs chemistry and pollutant dispersion in a typical street canyon

Impact of trees on pollutant dispersion in street canyons: A numerical study of the annual average effects in Antwerp, Belgium

The microenvironment, which involves pollutant dispersion of the urban street canyon, is critical to the health of pedestrians and residents. The objectives of this work are twofold: (i) to effectively assess the pollutant dispersion process based on a theory and (ii) to adopt an appropriate stratigy, i.e., wind catcher, to alleviate the pollution in the street canyons. Pollutant dispersion in street canyons is essentially a convective mass transfer process. Because the convective heat transfer process and the mass transfer process are physically similar and the applicability of field synergy theory to turbulence has been verified in the literature, we apply the field synergy theory to the study of pollutant dispersion in street canyons. In this paper, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is conducted to investigate the effects of wind catcher, wind speed and the geometry of the street canyons on pollutant dispersion. According to the field synergy theory, Sherwood number and field synergy number are used to quantitatively evaluate the wind catcher and wind speed on the diffusion of pollutants in asymmetric street canyons. The results show that adding wind catchers can significantly improve the air quality of the step-down street canyon and reduce the average pollutant concentrations in the street canyon by 75%. Higher wind speed enhances diffusion of pollutants differently in different geometric street canyons.

Characteristics of flow and reactive pollutant dispersion in urban street canyons

The air flow and pollutant concentration fields in a street canyon affected by trees could affect the comfort and health of residents. At present, the description of the non-uniform/discontinuous distribution of leaves is difficult. In this study, the leaf distribution in the canopy was characterized by establishing non-continuous (uniform/random) algorithm based on a numerical simulation method, and the effects of canopy properties including, height, porosity and uniform/random leaf distribution, on the airflow and pollutant concentration fields in urban street canyons were investigated. The position of the tree canopy was found to directly affect the airflow field form and the air velocity distribution in the street canyon at low inflows. The average air velocity in the street canyon could be reduced significantly when the top of the tree canopy is near the top of the street canyon. The air velocity and pollutant concentration in the street canyon would vary only slightly due to the canopy porosity. Due to the increasing canopy porosity, the air velocity would increase, and the pollutant concentration would be reduced. The leaves are non-continuous and uniformly distributed at constant porosity, which does not significantly change the velocity distribution and pollutant concentration in the street canyon.

In this study, the effects of building-roof cooling on scalar dispersion in three-dimensional street canyons are investigated using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. For this, surface temperature of building roof is systematically changed and non-reactive pollutants are released from street bottom in urban street canyons with the aspect ratio of 1. The characteristics of flow, air temperature, and non-reactive pollutant dispersion in the control experiment are analyzed first. Then, the effects of building-roof cooling are investigated by comparing the results with those in the control experiment. In the control experiment, a portal vortex which is a secondary flow induced by ambient air flow is formed in each street canyon. Averaged air temperature is higher inside the street canyon than in both sides of the street canyon, because warmer air is coming into the street canyon from the roof level. However, air temperature near the street bottom is lower inside the street canyon due to the inflow of cooler air from both sides of the street canyon. As building-roof temperature decreases, wind speed at the roof level increases and portal vortex becomes intensified (that is, downdraft, reverse flow, and updraft becomes stronger). Building-roof cooling contributes to the reduction of average concentration of the non-reactive pollutants and average air temperature in the street canyon. The results imply that building-roof cooling has positive effects on improvement of thermal environment and air quality in urban areas.

LES simulation of flow field and pollutant dispersion in a street canyon under time-varying inflows with TimeVarying-SIMPLE approach

As a result of rapid urbanization in numerous cities around the world, the demand for transportation has increased rapidly, resulting in emission of high levels of exhaust pollutants into the atmosphere. This is a major cause of deterioration in the local air quality, with consequent escalating risk of adverse health conditions amongst urban inhabitants. Understanding dispersion of pollutants in street canyons, local urban configurations, meteorological processes, and other physical factors are essential for predicting and assessing air quality. This article presents a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art research works relevant to the investigation of flow structures and pollutant dispersion phenomena in urban street canyons. Various factors, including building geometries, local atmospheric conditions, static and dynamic obstructions, as well as chemical reactions of exhaust pollutants, are critically discussed by taking into account field measurements, wind tunnel experiments, operational modeling techniques, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The most critical pollutant levels in street canyons under several physical circumstances are identified. Elements leading to discrepancies and resulting in inconsistencies of different research methods are briefly addressed and suggestions for future research are offered.

Influence of Meteorological Conditions on Pollutant Dispersion in Street Canyon

Urban air pollution is one of the unsettled issues in urban development and planning process. Urban street canyons are one of the main focused areas of investigation due to the heavy emission of the pollutants from vehicles. In the present study, the effects of elevated metro rail track (EMRT) on pollutant dispersion phenomena have been studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique. As a practical application of a CFD model, k-e turbulence model was applied for airflow modelling. Species transport model was applied for pollutant dispersion modelling. Geometrical configuration of urban street canyon of aspect ratio 'one', with elevated metro rail track, has been considered. Numerical simulations were carried out for perpendicular wind flow. Pollutant concentrations, at various locations of the street canyon, were largely affected by the introduction of elevated metro rail track. These results were compared with the street canyon without elevated metro rail track. It has been observed that the pollutant concentration increased at lower region and decreased at the upper region of the street canyon. Variations were not uniformly distributed in street canyon volume. Contours and pollutant concentrations have been compared and discussed for different sampled locations in the street canyon.

This paper investigates the impacts of heating intensity and inflow wind speed on the characteristics of reactive pollutant dispersion in street canyons using the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model that includes the transportation of NO, NO2, and O3 coupled with NO-NO2-O3 photochemistry. The results indicated that the heat intensity and inflow wind speed have a significant influence on the flow field, temperature field and the characteristics of reactive pollutant dispersion in and above the street canyon. With the street canyon bottom heating intensity increasing, NO, NO2 and O3 concentrations in street canyon are decreased. The O3 concentration reductions are even more than the NO and NO2 concentrations. Improving the inflow wind speed can significantly reduce the NO and NO2 concentrations within street canyons. But the O3 concentrations have a slight rise with wind speed increasing. The results would be useful for understanding the interrelation among reactive vehicle emissions, and provide references for urban planners.