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The Modelling of Turbulence from Traffic in Urban Dispersion Models — Part II: Evaluation Against Laboratory and Full-Scale Concentration Measurements in Street Canyons

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Abstract

The paper addresses the problem of the parameterisation of traffic induced turbulent motion in urban dispersion models. Results from a variety of full-scale and wind-tunnel studies are analysed and interpreted within a modelling framework based on scaling considerations. The combined effects of traffic and wind induced dispersive motions are quantified for different traffic situations (variable traffic densities, vehicle velocities and vehicle types) and incorporated into the developed parameterisations. A new dispersive velocity scale is formulated and recommendations regarding its application in urban dispersion models are given. The necessity of accounting for traffic induced air motions in predictions of street-canyon pollution levels is demonstrated. Further research is needed to verify the empirical constants in the proposed parameterisations and to generalize the developed approach for a broader range of urban building configurations, meteorological conditions, and traffic situations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, 100 East Boyd Street, Norman, OK, 73019, U.S.A

    Petra Kastner-Klein & Evgeni Fedorovich

  2. Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science ETH, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland

    Petra Kastner-Klein

  3. Institute for Hydromechanics, University of Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Evgeni Fedorovich

  4. Department of Atmospheric Environment, National Environmental Research Institute, Roskilde, Denmark

    Matthias Ketzel & Ruwim Berkowicz

  5. Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K

    Rex Britter

Authors
  1. Petra Kastner-Klein
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  2. Evgeni Fedorovich
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  3. Matthias Ketzel
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  4. Ruwim Berkowicz
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  5. Rex Britter
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Correspondence to Petra Kastner-Klein.

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Kastner-Klein, P., Fedorovich, E., Ketzel, M. et al. The Modelling of Turbulence from Traffic in Urban Dispersion Models — Part II: Evaluation Against Laboratory and Full-Scale Concentration Measurements in Street Canyons. Environmental Fluid Mechanics 3, 145–172 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022049224166

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022049224166

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