Determination of optimal height of barriers to reduce the amount of pollution in the viaduct settings in an idealized urban canyon: a numerical study.

In this work, we numerically investigate the process of atmospheric air pollution in idealized urban canyons along the road in the presence of a viaduct, taking into account different height of barriers. To solve this problem, the 3D Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (RANS) were used. The closure of this system of equations was achieved by using various turbulent models. The verification of the mathematical model and the numerical algorithm was carried out using a test problem. The obtained results using various turbulent models were compared with experimental data and calculated results of other authors. The main problem considered in this work is characterized as follows: assessment of emissions of pollutants between buildings using barriers of various types in the presence of a viaduct. Computational results have shown that the barrier viaduct plays a large role in improving air quality in urban canyons. So, for example, a barrier erected on a viaduct with a height of 2 m reduces the concentration value to a cross-section x = 84 by more than 2 times in comparison with the case of a complete absence of protective barriers. A similar situation was observed with barriers erected above the earth’s surface: located along the road, they also significantly reduce the value of the concentration of pollutants. Thus, the presence of barriers in both cases is necessary to prevent the dispersion and deposition of pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]