Modelling the effects of a vegetation barrier on road dust dispersion

摘要

Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is a well known risk to human health. Vehicular traffic is one of the major sources of particulates in an urban setting. We study a problem of the road dust dispersion. Using a CFD solver based on the RANS equations, we investigate the effect of a vegetation barrier on the concentration of the airborne PM induced by the road traffic. A simplified 2D model of a porous obstacle adjacent to a road source of two particle classes serves as an idealization of a real-world situation. The filtering efficiency of the barrier is investigated under varying atmospheric conditions. Our model indicates that the efficiency decreases for increasing wind speed. The effect of atmospheric stratification on the air quality behind the barrier is shown to be highly dependent on the wind speed.