Dispersion characteristics of vehicle emission in an urban street canyon

The dispersion of vehicle emission is limited by various factors existing in an urban environment, which may produce a poor air quality in an urban street canyon environment. This poor air quality has a high potential to be easily delivered into indoor air environment through building ventilation. In this study, the dispersion of vehicle emission was characterized by conducting wind tunnel tests and applying tracer gas techniques. The aspect ratio of a street canyon (i.e. the ratio of the width of a street and the average height of buildings) and the direction of external wind are the major test parameters. In addition to the simple data analysis of the results, a series of statistical analysis was also introduced to formulate the complex effects on the dispersion of vehicle emission. The updated result is presented in this article. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.