We conducted wind tunnel experiments, using a 1: 300 scale model of an actual built-up area in Kamiuma, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, to study the flow and distribution of air pollution arounda heavily trafficked roadway and the lid effect of an elevated road on pollution flow and distribution at grade.
Ground-level pollution concentrations were greatly influenced by nearby buildings. In general, they increased when buildings on both sides of the road (especially the windward side) were high, and decreased when roadside buildings were lower or absent.
The lid effect of the elevated road, which was perpendicular to the prevailing wind direction, caused a slight increase in ground-level pollution. When no large buildings were present near the roadway, the flat elevated road suppressed vertical diffusion instead of blocking the flow around the roadway. Therefore, pollution under the elevated road was carried out of the road at grade more efficiently than when there was no elevated road. Pollution concentrations downwind from the main road increased when an elevated road was present.
Ground-level concentrations were lower when an emission source was placed on the elevated road than when an equivalent emission source was placed on the road at grade. We concluded that high pollution concentrations at ground level can be reduced by routing through traffic over an elevated road.
In the wind tunnel experiment using model building blocks, the concentration distribution pattern, normalized by the average concentration of the street canyon cross section, did not change greatly, even with changes in the road configuration and atmospheric stability. In the actual street canyon, the concentration distribution patterns were very similar to those generated by the block models.
Our improved SRI street canyon model reasonably estimated concentrations in the street canyon.
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