Wind tunnel simulation of pollutant dispersion inside street canyons with galleries and multi-level flat roofs

In this study, the pollutant dispersion within street canyons is studied by experiments conducted in an environmental wind tunnel. The vehicular exhaust emissions are modeled using a line source. The pollutant (smoke) concentrations inside the canyons are measured based on a light scattering technique. The pollutant concentrations within the four different street canyons containing the galleries and the three-level flat-roofs under both the isolated and urban environments are obtained and discussed. For each of the four canyon configurations investigated, it is found that there is an obvious discrepancy between the pollutant dispersion patterns under the isolated environment and the urban environment. The three-level flat roof is found to significantly influence the pollutant distribution pattern in a street canyon. In order to clarify the impacts of the wedge-shaped roofs on the pollutant dispersion inside an urban street canyon of an aspect ratio of 1.0, the pollutant distributions inside urban street canyons of three different wedge-shaped roof combinations are measured and analyzed. It is revealed that the pollutant distribution pattern inside the urban street canyon of an aspect ratio of 1.0 is influenced greatly by the wedge-shaped roof, especially, when an upward wedge-shaped roof is placed on the upstream building of the canyon. Images from this study may be utilized for a rough evaluation of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models and for helping architects and urban planners to select the canyon configurations with a minimum negative impact on the local air quality.