A parametric study of the effect of roof height and morphology on air pollution dispersion in street canyons

We investigate the effect of conventional pitched roofs on ventilation and pollution in street canyons using Computational Fluid Dynamics and a parametric approach. We studied parallel street canyons with several street morphologies, created by assigning a set of streets with pitched roofs, and varying their pitch and arrangement for three different height-to-width aspect ratios. The distribution of flow properties and pollution concentrations within the street canyons are examined and the effect of different parameter combinations is assessed. We find the relationship between these properties and the street morphology to be complex and case specific. For most morphologies, the pitched roofs lead to higher average pollution concentrations, and in some cases to pollution hotspots near emission sources especially on the leeward side. The pitched roofs are rarely beneficial to ventilation of the street canyons, but a few roof arrangements lead to reduced concentrations on the windward side. Roof slope is shown to significantly relate to both average pollution concentrations and their distribution inside the street in some street geometries more than others. The results have implications for pedestrian and residential pollution exposure, and for conservation of building facades on historical buildings.