Title: A fast model for pollutant dispersion at the neighbourhood scale

Authors: S. Di Sabatino; R. Buccolieri; P. Paradisi; L. Palatella; R. Corrado

Addresses: Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, University of Salento, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy ' Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, University of Salento, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy ' Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell'Informazione 'A.Faedo' (ISTI-CNR), Via G. Moruzzi, 1, 56124, Pisa, Italy ' Istituto di Scienze dell'Atmosfera e del Clima (ISAC-CNR), Lecce Unit, Strada Provinciale Lecce-Monteroni Km 1,200 - 73100 Lecce, Italy ' Dipartimento di Fisica, University of Salento, Via Arnesano, 73100 Lecce, Italy

Abstract: This paper is devoted to the development and evaluation of a fast three-dimensional Eulerian model for dispersion inside and above the urban canopy layer. Spatially averaged wind and diffusivity coefficient profiles obtained from the commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code FLUENT are used as input in the developed model. This model is numerically solved by means of a finite volume method and mean concentration outputs are compared with the corresponding results from FLUENT. We considered several canopies made of arrays of cubes laid in staggered position. Results from the comparison suggest the potential of this type of simple modelling approach. As the spatially averaged wind and diffusivity profiles are strongly dependent from the mean morphometry properties of the urban canopy, these results, though preliminary, highlight the necessity of using specific turbulence closure models where building effects at the neighbourhood scale are taken into account.

Keywords: pollutant dispersion; urban canopy; morphological parameters; spatially averaged profiles; neighbourhood scale; dispersion modelling; air quality; air pollution; computational fluid dynamics; CFD; turbulence closure models; building effects.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2011.047335

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2011 Vol.47 No.1/2/3/4, pp.207 - 215

Published online: 30 Apr 2015 *

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