A Microscale Model for Air Pollutant Dispersion Simulation in Urban Areas： Presentation of the Model and Performance over a Single Building

A microscale air pollutant dispersion model system is developed for emergency response purposes. The model includes a diagnostic wind field model to simulate the wind field and a random-walk air pollutant dispersion model to simulate the pollutant concentration through consideration of the influence of urban buildings. Numerical experiments are designed to evaluate the model＇s performance, using CEDVAL （Compilation of Experimental Data for Validation of Microscale Disper- sion Models） wind tunnel experiment data, including wind fields and air pollutant dispersion around a single building. The results show that the wind model can reproduce the vortexes triggered by urban buildings and the dispersion model simulates the pollutant concentration around buildings well. Typically, the simulation errors come from the determination of the key zones around a building or building cluster. This model has the potential for multiple applications; for example, the prediction of air pollutant dispersion and the evaluation of environmental impacts in emergency situations; urban planning scenarios; and the assessment of microscale air quality in urban areas.

Numerical investigation on fire-induced indoor and outdoor air pollutant dispersion in an idealized urban street canyon

Fire-induced pollutant dispersion under the influence of buoyancy in urban street canyons has attracted wide attention given its adverse impact on human health.This study analyzes the influences of fire source location and crossflowing wind(perpendicular to the canyon centerline)on indoor and outdoor air pollutant dispersion in an idealized urban street canyon by employing large eddy simulation.Three fire scenarios are defined according to the transverse location of the fire source:near the windward building(scenario 1),in the middle of the canyon(scenario 2),and near the leeward building(scenario 3).Results show that a re-entrainment phenomenon appears when the wind velocity reaches a critical value in scenarios 1 and 2,but it doesn't occur in scenario 3.Fire source location significantly influences the critical re-entrainment velocity.The critical velocity in scenario 1 is approximate 1.2-1.5 m/s larger than that in scenario 2.When the heat release rate is large,the critical Fr numbers are less sensitive to changes in HRR,and remain approximately constant with values of 0.47(scenario 1)and 0.37(scenario 2).When the wind velocity is large,more compartments are expected to be affected in the upper floors in all of the three scenarios,and smoke is distributed in an inverted triangle within the buildings.The indoor/outdoor temperature and pollutant concentrations are also analyzed.Our findings can provide valuable information for both human and property safety in relation to urban street canyons and their surrounding buildings.