Evaluation of a micro-scale wind model’s performance over realistic building clusters using wind tunnel experiments

The simulation performance over complex building clusters of a wind simulation model(Wind Information Field Fast Analysis model, WIFFA) in a micro-scale air pollutant dispersion model system(Urban Microscale Air Pollution dispersion Simulation model, UMAPS) is evaluated using various wind tunnel experimental data including the CEDVAL(Compilation of Experimental Data for Validation of Micro-Scale Dispersion Models) wind tunnel experiment data and the NJU-FZ experiment data(Nanjing University-Fang Zhuang neighborhood wind tunnel experiment data). The results show that the wind model can reproduce the vortexes triggered by urban buildings well, and the flow patterns in urban street canyons and building clusters can also be represented. Due to the complex shapes of buildings and their distributions, the simulation deviations/discrepancies from the measurements are usually caused by the simplification of the building shapes and the determination of the key zone sizes. The computational efficiencies of different cases are also discussed in this paper. The model has a high computational efficiency compared to traditional numerical models that solve the Navier–Stokes equations, and can produce very high-resolution(1–5 m) wind fields of a complex neighborhood scale urban building canopy(～ 1 km ×1km) in less than 3 min when run on a personal computer.     

建筑物对称性对大气输移特性影响的模拟研究

运用修正的k-ε双方程湍流模型分别对非对称性建筑物和对称性建筑物周围的流场和污染物浓度场进行模拟,计算出地面风速为3 m/s时不同建筑物周围的流场与污染物浓度场分布。结果表明:建筑物的形状对建筑物周围风场和污染物浓度场有明显的影响,不同形状建筑物尾流区形态各不相同。数值模拟结果对研究建筑物周围的传输特性有一定的指导意义,并对污染物的扩散机理进行了探讨。     

Simulating urban flow and dispersion in Beijing by coupling a CFD model with the WRF model

The airflow and dispersion of a pollutant in a complex urban area of Beijing, China, were numerically examined by coupling a Computational Fluid Dynamics （CFD） model with a mesoscale weather model. The models used were Open Source Field Operation and Manipulation （OpenFOAM） software package and Weather Research and Forecasting （WRF） model. OpenFOAM was firstly validated against wind-tunnel experiment data. Then, the WRF model was integrated for 42 h starting from 0800 LST 08 September 2009, and the coupled model was used to compute the flow fields at 1000 LST and 1400 LST 09 September 2009. During the WRF-simulated period, a high pressure system was dominant over the Beijing area. The WRF-simulated local circulations were characterized by mountain valley winds, which matched well with observations. Results from the coupled model simulation demonstrated that the airflows around actual buildings were quite different from the ambient wind on the boundary provided by the WRF model, and the pollutant dispersion pattern was complicated under the influence of buildings. A higher concentration level of the pollutant near the surface was found in both the step-down and step-up notches, but the reason for this higher level in each configurations was different： in the former, it was caused by weaker vertical flow, while in the latter it was caused by a downward-shifted vortex. Overall, the results of this study suggest that the coupled WRF-OpenFOAM model is an important tool that can be used for studying and predicting urban flow and dispersions in densely built-up areas.     

Building morphological characteristics and their effect on the wind in Beijing

An urban boundary layer model (UBLM) is improved by incorporating the effect of buildings with a sectional drag coefficient and a height-distributed canopy drag length scale. The improved UBLM is applied to simulate the wind fields over three typical urban blocks over the Beijing area with different height-to-width ratios. For comparisons, the wind fields over the same blocks are simulated by an urban sub-domain scale model resolving the buildings explicitly. The wind fields simulated from the two different methods are in good agreement. Then, two-dimensional building morphological characteristics and urban canopy parameters for Beijing are derived from detailed building height data. Finally, experiements are conducted to investigate the effect of buildings on the wind field in Beijing using the improved UBLM.     

Large-Eddy Simulation of Flow and Pollutant Dispersion in High-Aspect-Ratio Urban Street Canyons with Wall Model

A large-eddy simulation (LES) with a one-equation subgrid-scale (SGS) model was developed to investigate the flow field and pollutant dispersion inside street canyons of high aspect ratio (AR). A 1/7th power-law wall model was implemented near rigid walls to mitigate the demanding near-wall resolution requirements in LES. This LES model had been extensively validated against experimental results for street canyons of AR = 1 and 2 before it was applied to the cases of AR = 3 and 5. A ground-level passive pollutant line source, located in the middle of the street, was used to simulate vehicular emissions. Three and five vertically aligned primary recirculations were developed in the street canyons of AR 3 and 5, respectively. The ground-level mean wind speed was less than 0.5% of the free stream value, which makes it difficult for the pollutant to be transported upward for removal. High pollutant concentration and variance were found near the buildings where the air flow is upwards. It was found that the velocity fluctuation, pollutant concentration and variance were all closely related to the interactions between the primary recirculations and/or the free surface layer. Several quantities, which are non-linear functions of AR, were introduced to quantify the air quality in street canyons of different configurations.     

基于大涡模拟的小区气候态精细化风环境模拟试验

对具有复杂下垫面的小区精细化风环境进行数值模拟是当前城市气象研究的热点,而针对具有复杂地形的山地型城市（如重庆）的研究还比较匮乏。本文采用能显式分辨下垫面陡峭地形和复杂建筑物的计算流体力学（CFD）模式对重庆市渝北区龙湖社区气候态下的精细化风环境进行高分辨率的数值模拟。结果表明,下垫面能显著调节小区内风场的分布,风速大值区主要出现在九龙湖等开阔区域以及与中尺度背景入流方向一致的街道中。在夏季,小区整体风场以东南风为主,而其他3个季节则以偏东风为主。4个季节中,夏季小区内的风速最大,平均风速为0.3 m/s左右,局地能出现大于背景风的风速,可达0.8 m/s;其他3个季节的风速则较弱,区域平均的风速在0.2 m/s左右。不同的建筑物布局对局地风环境的影响也不同:单个孤立高层建筑迎风面的近地面存在明显地绕流,局地风速有所增加,而在背风面则形成尾流区,水平风速较低;在低矮分散的建筑群,建筑物的整体高度不高,区域内流场相对来说比较一致,风速较大,有利于小区的通风;在密集高层建筑群内,由于建筑物群本身的布局比较封闭,加之不同建筑物的环流场存在相互干扰及影响,使得小区近地面风速几乎为零,不利于小区通风和污染物扩散。建筑物的这些影响在城市冠层内尤为明显,高度越高这种影响越弱。     

Influence of Thermal Effects on the Wind Field Within the Urban Environment

Micrometeorological conditions in the vicinity of urban buildings strongly influence the requirements that are imposed on building heating and cooling. The goal of the present study, carried out within the Advance Tools for Rational Energy Use towards Sustainability (ATREUS) European research network, is the evaluation of the wind field around buildings with walls heated by solar radiation. Two computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes were validated against extensive wind-tunnel observations to assess the influence of thermal effects on model performance. The code selected from this validation was used to simulate the wind and temperature fields for a summer day in a specific region of the city of Lisbon. For this study, the meteorological data produced by a non-hydrostatic mesoscale atmospheric model (MM5) were used as boundary conditions for a CFD code, which was further applied to analyze the effects of local roughness elements and thermodynamic conditions on the air flow around buildings. The CFD modelling can also provide the inflow parameters for a Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, used to evaluate the building energy budgets and to predict performance of the air-conditioning system. The main finding of the present three-dimensional analyses is that thermal forcing associated with the heating of buildings can significantly modify local properties of the air flow.     

应用城市冠层模式研究建筑物形态对城市边界层的影响

文中将城市冠层模式耦合到南京大学城市尺度边界层模式中,通过模拟对比发现,耦合模式对城市地区气温模拟结果更接近于观测值,尤其是对城市地区夜间气温模拟的改进.运用改进耦合模式通过多个敏感性试验的模拟,从城市面积扩张、建筑物高度增加、建筑物分布密度变化等角度研究城市建筑物三维几何形态变化对城市边界层及城市气象环境的影响,试验结果表明:(1)城市面积扩张使得城市下垫面的热通量增大,热力湍流活动增强,动量通量输送增强,城市湍能增大,湍流扩散系数变大,城市气温升高,且对不同时刻城市区域大气层结稳定度均有不同程度的影响.(2)建筑物高度增加增大了城市下垫面的粗糙度和零平面位移.同时也增大了城市街渠高宽比.城市建筑物越高,白天城市地区地表热通量越小,城市上空大气温度越低,平均风速减小,湍能减小;夜间由于高大建筑物释放储热比低矮建筑物要多,其热力湍流相对活跃,地表热通量增大,使得城市区域气温较高.(3)建筑物密度增大,会减小城市下垫面的粗糙度同时增强街渠对辐射的影响.建筑物密度增大在白天会减小地表热通量和动量通量,使城市气温降低,平均风速增大,城市湍流活动能力减弱;夜间城市释放较多储热使得气温较高.     

Large-Eddy Simulation of the Wind Field and Plume Dispersion Within Different Obstacle Arrays Using a Dynamic Mixing Length Subgrid-Scale Model

A novel dynamic mixing length (DML) subgrid-scale (SGS) model is proposed to improve the large-eddy simulations of the wind field and contaminant dispersion around a group of buildings. Wind field and contaminant dispersion in two kinds of building array geometries are simulated using the model, with wind-tunnel experimental data used to validate the model. The relative errors in the lateral profiles of the streamwise mean velocities behind the sixth row of the buildings of the staggered obstacle array and the aligned obstacle array at the half height of the building are 15 and 9%, respectively. The DML velocity fluctuations in the staggered and aligned obstacle arrays are in agreement with those of the experiment. The results indicate that the DML model can make a more accurate prediction of the mean velocity and velocity fluctuations. The DML model is highly suitable for the simulation of multi-scale turbulent flow in urban canyons, of high Reynolds number turbulent flow and of complex turbulent flow.     

复杂地形城市冬季大气污染的数值模拟研究

采用中尺度大气动力模式与大气扩散模式相结合的方法，针对复杂地形条件下兰州市冬季无明显冷空气入侵天气过程时段（1994年12月2－3日）的大气污染状况，进行污染物（二氧化硫和烟尘）浓度分布的数值模拟研究，分析了模拟的风场的气温层结随时间的变化以及污染物浓度的分布及其变化，进一步分析了模拟的风场和气温层结与污染物浓度分布的关系。结果表明，该模式系统对兰州市大气边界层结构及污染物浓度的分布有较好的模拟能力，并证明了该模式系统可适用于兰州市大气质量预测预报研究。     

气流输送对北京大气污染物体积分数的影响

利用HYSPLIT后向轨迹模式和2004年8月—2007年12月NCEP再分析气象资料,计算每天15:00抵达北京地区10、100和500m高度上的后向气流轨迹.对整个研究时段、采暖季和非采暖季期间的后向气流轨迹分别进行聚类分析,得到这3个时段到达北京地区的主要后向气流轨迹聚类.其中整个研究时段的后向气流轨迹分成3个聚类,采暖季和非采暖季的后向气流轨迹都分成5个聚类.结合各段时间中国科学院大气物理研究所观测的大气污染物体积分数资料,分析不同时段气流输送作用对北京主要大气污染物体积分数的影响.发现采暖季和非采暖季北京气体污染物体积分数高值主要集中在来自风速较小的西北方气流聚类.采暖季污染物体积分数低值主要出现在偏北方向风速较大的后向气流轨迹聚类.非采暖季污染物体积分数低值主要出现在偏北低速气流聚类和西北向高速气流轨迹聚类中.从各时段污染物最值分布情况可以看出:在风速较大的后向气流轨迹聚类影响下,北京的污染物体积分数较低;途经了较严重工业排放地带的后向气流轨迹聚类会使北京气体污染物体积分数显著增高.此外,虽然非采暖季的大气污染物分布与气流输送的影响基本符合,但各聚类污染物分布结果与气流输送作用的影响存在偏差.     

城市环境对重气扩散的影响及其验证

开发了适合城市环境下的应急重气扩散模型——SLAB_URBAN模型,该模型能够对城市环境下重气的传输扩散过程进行模拟。模型的原理基于重气扩散浅层理论,采用了新的城市边界层和扩散参数的参数化方案。该方案考虑了城市冠层内特有的风和湍流扩散的特征,能够体现城市边界层和湍流对重气扩散的影响。对美国盐湖城Urban2000的城市扩散试验进行模拟,主要验证下风方向观测弧所观测到的气体最大小时平均浓度与源释放速率的比值。结果表明,模型能够比较好地模拟出下风方向上浓度的分布特征。另外,与国外同类城市扩散模型的比较来看,SLAB_URBAN模型的模拟能力居于前列。     

北京城市大气环境污染机理与调控原理

该文主要介绍了科技部国家重点基础研究发展规划项目“首都北京及周边地区大气、水、土环境污染机理及调控原理”大气分项目的研究成果。项目分别于2001年和2003年重点开展了BECAPEX科学试验 (Beijing City Air Pollution Experiment)。BECAPEX试验同步进行城市边界层气象与大气化学观测, 通过卫星遥感、地面观测, 即城市空间和地面以及点与面结合的技术途径, 以揭示北京城市污染“空气穹隆”大气化学结构特征及其变化规律, 为城市环境大气动力-化学模式提供基本科学参数, 给出城市边界层大气物理化学过程综合模型, 为提高城市环境大气物理-化学过程耦合模式的准确性和可靠性提供科学依据。该项目揭示了北京城区和城近郊区城市边界层结构与湍流特征, 城市大气污染垂直结构特征; 发现了城市大气污染空间结构多尺度特征, 其中包括大气污染源影响和城市热岛多尺度特征; 揭示了城市大气重污染过程周边源影响域, 以及北京及周边地区气溶胶影响域和区域气候响应; 提出了北京市典型污染源排放清单; 发展了城市气象模式系统, 包括冠层模式、街谷环流和热力结构以及城市高大建筑群周围风环境数值模拟; 发展了空气质量模式技术, 包括二次气溶胶模拟试验、北京地区SO₂污染的长期模拟及不同类型排放源影响的计算与评估、影响北京地区的沙尘暴输送模拟、区域化学输送模式中NO_x和O₃源示踪法, 城市尺度的大气污染CAPPS模式及统计模型的应用、大气污染及紫外辐射数值预报模式和CMAQ-MOS空气质量预报方法; 改进了美国公共多尺度空气质量预报模式, 建立了CMAQ-MOS区域空气质量动力-统计模型预报模式, 以及发展的源同化技术, 突破了当前空气质量模式技术“瓶颈”, 使模式预报准确率明显提高。     

Pollutant Concentrations in Street Canyons of Different Aspect Ratio with Avenues of Trees for Various Wind Directions

This study summarizes the effects of avenues of trees in urban street canyons on traffic pollutant dispersion. We describe various wind-tunnel experiments with different tree-avenue models in combination with variations in street-canyon aspect ratio W/H (with W the street-canyon width and H the building height) and approaching wind direction. Compared to tree-free street canyons, in general, higher pollutant concentrations are found. Avenues of trees do not suppress canyon vortices, although the air ventilation in canyons is hindered significantly. For a perpendicular wind direction, increases in wall-average and wall-maximum concentrations at the leeward canyon wall and decreases in wall-average concentrations at the windward wall are found. For oblique and perpendicular wind directions, increases at both canyon walls are obtained. The strongest effects of avenues of trees on traffic pollutant dispersion are observed for oblique wind directions for which also the largest concentrations at the canyon walls are found. Thus, the prevailing assumption that attributes the most harmful dispersion conditions to a perpendicular wind direction does not hold for street canyons with avenues of trees. Furthermore, following dimensional analysis, an estimate of the normalized wall-maximum traffic pollutant concentration in street canyons with avenues of trees is derived.     

A multi-scale urban atmospheric dispersion model for emergency management

To assist emergency management planning and prevention in case of hazardous chemical release into the atmosphere,especially in densely built-up regions with large populations,a multi-scale urban atmospheric dispersion model was established.Three numerical dispersion experiments,at horizontal resolutions of 10 m,50 m and 3000 m,were performed to estimate the adverse effects of toxic chemical release in densely built-up areas.The multi-scale atmospheric dispersion model is composed of the Weather Forecasting and Research （WRF） model,the Open Source Field Operation and Manipulation software package,and a Lagrangian dispersion model.Quantification of the adverse health effects of these chemical release events are given by referring to the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency＇s Acute Exposure Guideline Levels.The wind fields of the urban-scale case,with 3 km horizontal resolution,were simulated by the Beijing Rapid Update Cycle system,which were utilized by the WRF model.The sub-domain-scale cases took advantage of the computational fluid dynamics method to explicitly consider the effects of buildings.It was found that the multi-scale atmospheric dispersion model is capable of simulating the flow pattern and concentration distribution on different scales,ranging from several meters to kilometers,and can therefore be used to improve the planning of prevention and response programs.     

Modelling Pollutant Dispersion in a Street Network

This study constitutes a further step in the analysis of the performances of a street network model to simulate atmospheric pollutant dispersion in urban areas. The model, named SIRANE, is based on the decomposition of the urban atmosphere into two sub-domains: the urban boundary layer, whose dynamics is assumed to be well established, and the urban canopy, represented as a series of interconnected boxes. Parametric laws govern the mass exchanges between the boxes under the assumption that the pollutant dispersion within the canopy can be fully simulated by modelling three main bulk transfer phenomena: channelling along street axes, transfers at street intersections, and vertical exchange between street canyons and the overlying atmosphere. Here, we aim to evaluate the reliability of the parametrizations adopted to simulate these phenomena, by focusing on their possible dependence on the external wind direction. To this end, we test the model against concentration measurements within an idealized urban district whose geometrical layout closely matches the street network represented in SIRANE. The analysis is performed for an urban array with a fixed geometry and a varying wind incidence angle. The results show that the model provides generally good results with the reference parametrizations adopted in SIRANE and that its performances are quite robust for a wide range of the model parameters. This proves the reliability of the street network approach in simulating pollutant dispersion in densely built city districts. The results also show that the model performances may be improved by considering a dependence of the wind fluctuations at street intersections and of the vertical exchange velocity on the direction of the incident wind. This opens the way for further investigations to clarify the dependence of these parameters on wind direction and street aspect ratios.     

Numerical study of flow and gas diffusion in the near-wake behind an isolated building

To assist validation of the experimental data of urban pollution dispersion, the effect of an isolated building on the flow and gaseous diffusion in the wake region have been investigated numerically in the neutrally stratified rough-walled turbulent boundary layer. Numerical studies were carried out using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models. The CFD models used for the simulation were based on the steady-state Reynolds-Average Navier-Stoke equations (RANS) with κ-ε turbulence models; standard κ-ε and RNG κ-ε models. Inlet conditions and boundary conditions were specified numerically to the best information available for each fluid modeling simulation. A gas pollutant was emitted from a point source within the recirculation cavity behind the building model. The accuracy of these simulations was examined by comparing the predicted results with wind tunnel experimental data. It was confirmed that simulation using the model accurately reproduces the velocity and concentration diffusion fields with a fine-mish resolution in the near wake region. Results indicated that there is a good agreement between the numerical simulation and the wind tunnel experiment for both wind flow and concentration diffusion. The results of this work can help to improve the understanding of mechanisms of and simulation of pollutant transport in an urban environment.     

复杂地形条件下城市热岛及局地环流特征的数值模拟

应用基于多层城市冠层方案BEP(Building Environment Parameterization)增加室内空调系统影响的建筑物能量模式BEM(Building Energy Model)方案的WRF模式,模拟研究重庆热岛的特征、成因以及局地环流对热岛形成的影响。文中共有两个算例,一为重庆真实下垫面算例,称之为URBAN算例,二为将城市下垫面替换为耕地下垫面的对比算例,称之为NOURBAN算例。结果表明:1)WRF方案模拟结果与观测2 m气温的对比吻合较好,误差主要出现在正午温度峰值和凌晨温度谷值处,由城市下垫面特性及城市内建筑分布误差引起。2)BEP+BEM方案较好地模拟出了重庆地区的热岛分布的空间和时间特征。重庆市温度的分布受地形和城市下垫面的双重影响,越靠近城区,温度的分布受城市化影响就越大,在海拔低处,温度就越高。3)城区立体三维表面对辐射的陷阱作用导致城市表面总体反射率小,向上短波辐射小于郊区约20 W/m~2。城市表面以感热排放为主,而郊区则表现为潜热的作用占主导。夜间城市地表储热以及空调废热向大气释放,是城市热岛形成的重要原因。4)模拟区域背景风场主要为东南风,局地环流呈现出越靠近山区风速越大、城市区域风速较小的特性,体现了城市密集的建筑群对低层大气流场的空气动力学效应,以及复杂山谷地形的山谷风环流特性。在市区的西侧和东南侧均有高大山脉阻挡,山脉对城市出流的阻碍作用、气流越山与绕流运动对城市热岛的形成有一定影响。     

A New Scheme for the Simulation of Microscale Flow and Dispersion in Urban Areas by Coupling Large-Eddy Simulation with Mesoscale Models

A coupling scheme is proposed for the simulation of microscale flow and dispersion in which both the mesoscale field and small-scale turbulence are specified at the boundary of a microscale model. The small-scale turbulence is obtained individually in the inner and outer layers by the transformation of pre-computed databases, and then combined in a weighted sum. Validation of the results of a flow over a cluster of model buildings shows that the inner- and outer-layer transition height should be located in the roughness sublayer. Both the new scheme and the previous scheme are applied in the simulation of the flow over the central business district of Oklahoma City (a point source during intensive observation period 3 of the Joint Urban 2003 experimental campaign), with results showing that the wind speed is well predicted in the canopy layer. Compared with the previous scheme, the new scheme improves the prediction of the wind direction and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) in the canopy layer. The flow field influences the scalar plume in two ways, i.e. the averaged flow field determines the advective flux and the TKE field determines the turbulent flux. Thus, the mean, root-mean-square and maximum of the concentration agree better with the observations with the new scheme. These results indicate that the new scheme is an effective means of simulating the complex flow and dispersion in urban canopies.     

CALPUFF模型在合肥地区SO2大气环境容量测算中的应用

在对合肥地区污染源调查的基础上,利用CALPUFF模型模拟了合肥地区大气污染物SO₂质量浓度场,通过与现场监测结果对比分析了模型的适用性,并根据模拟结果研究了不同排放源对合肥地区大气污染的贡献情况,建立了大气污染物传递矩阵;通过综合考虑城市区域的大气扩散能力、污染源贡献和大气环境质量目标等,采用线性规划模型测算了合肥市的大气环境容量.