Abstract
Results are presented from a series of numerical studies designed to investigate the atmospheric boundary layer structure, ambient wind, and pollutant source location and their impacts on the wind field and pollutant distribution within the built-up areas of Shenyang, China. Two models, namely, Open Source Field Operation and Manipulation (OpenFOAM) software package and Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, are used in the present study. Then the high resolution computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical experiments were performed under the typical simulated atmospheric boundary conditions. It was found that the atmospheric boundary structure played a crucial role in the pollution within the building cluster, which determined the potential turbulent diffusion ability of the atmospheric surface layer; the change of the ambient wind direction can significantly affect the dispersion pattern of pollutants, which was a more sensitive factor than the ambient wind speed; under a given atmospheric state, the location of the pollution sources would dramatically determine the pollution patterns within built-up areas. The WRF-CFD numerical evaluation is a reliable method to understand the complicated flow and dispersion within built-up areas.
Highlights
The air pollution within urban environments with dense population has become an important research issue in the past two decades, leading to numerous studies of the airflow and dispersion patterns around various building configurations
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) prognostic models can be classified into three broad categories according to the respective turbulence closure schemes: Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) approach [9,10,11,12], Large-eddy simulation (LES) [13,14,15], and direct numerical simulation (DNS) approach
Previous study performed by Miao et al [18] made a probe into studying and predicting urban flow and dispersion in densely built-up areas using a CFD model OpenFOAM coupled with a mesoscale model Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF), and just one case was carried on under unstable atmospheric boundary condition in summer
Summary
The air pollution within urban environments with dense population has become an important research issue in the past two decades, leading to numerous studies of the airflow and dispersion patterns around various building configurations. There are several studies that have numerically examined the air flow and dispersion in built-up areas by using CFD models with boundary conditions given by mesoscale models. Previous study performed by Miao et al [18] made a probe into studying and predicting urban flow and dispersion in densely built-up areas using a CFD model OpenFOAM coupled with a mesoscale model WRF, and just one case was carried on under unstable atmospheric boundary condition in summer. A series of sensitivity numerical experiments have been performed to study the sensitivity of factors associated with flow and dispersion process within the built-up area of Shenyang with high resolution, such as the atmospheric boundary structure, ambient wind direction and speed, and the location of the pollution sources, using the coupled WRFCFD model.
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