CFD simulation of indoor-outdoor wind-driven ventilation and traffic pollutant dispersion at a T-shaped street intersection (ISHVAC 2023)

Abstract

Traffic exhaust is considered a predominant pollutant source for buildings along streets. However, there are few studies on ventilation and pollution dispersion inside buildings and along streets in a T-shaped intersection. This study investigates the ventilation performance and pollutant dispersion inside and outside multi-unit buildings at T-shaped intersections in different wind directions. Different wind-driven ventilation modes have been compared, i.e. SS2 (single-sided ventilation with 2 openings) and CV (cross ventilation). The results show that multi-unit buildings have the potential to enhance SS2 ventilation performance. The diffusion of outdoor pollutants into indoor environments is more closely related to wind direction for SS2 than CV. However, at certain wind directions (θ = 135°), a significant increase in indoor pollutant concentrations is observed in CV, nearly tenfold higher than that in SS2 cases. The findings could contribute to the understanding of ventilation in multi-unit buildings at T-shaped street intersections.