Impacts of Traffic Tidal Flow on Pollutant Dispersion in a Non-Uniform Urban Street Canyon

Abstract

A three-dimensional geometrical model was established based on a section of street canyons in the 2nd Ring Road of Wuhan, China, and a mathematical model describing the fluid flow and pollutant dispersion characteristics in the street canyon was developed. The effect of traffic tidal flow was investigated based on the measurement results of the passing vehicles as the pollution source of the CFD method and on the spatial distribution of pollutants under various ambient crosswinds. Numerical investigation results indicated that: (i) in this three-dimensional asymmetrical shallow street canyon, if the pollution source followed a non-uniform distribution due to the traffic tidal flow and the wind flow was perpendicular to the street, a leeward side source intensity stronger than the windward side intensity would cause an expansion of the pollution space even if the total source in the street is equal. When the ambient wind speed is 3 m/s, the pollutant source intensity near the leeward side that is stronger than that near the windward side (R = 2, R = 3, and R = 5) leads to an increased average concentration of CO at pedestrian breathing height by 26%, 37%, and 41%, respectively. (R is the ratio parameter of the left side pollution source and the right side pollution source); (ii) However, this feature will become less significant with increasing wind speeds and changes of wind direction; (iii) the pollution source intensity exerted a decisive influence on the pollutant level in the street canyon. With the decrease of the pollution source intensity, the pollutant concentration decreased proportionally.