Influence of avenue-trees on air quality at the urban neighborhood scale. Part II: Traffic pollutant concentrations at pedestrian level

Flow and dispersion of traffic-emitted pollutants were studied in a generic urban neighborhood for various avenue-tree layouts by employing 3D steady RANS simulations with the realizable k-epsilon turbulence model. In comparison to the tree-free situation quantitative and qualitative changes with flow reversal in the wind field were observed. Low to moderate increases (<13.2%) in the neighborhood-averaged pollutant concentration were found at pedestrian level. An approximately 1% increase in the neighborhood-averaged concentration was obtained with each percent of the street canyon volumes being occupied by vegetation for occupation fractions between 4 and 14%. The overall pattern of concentration changes relative to the tree-free situation was similar for all avenue-tree layouts. However, pronounced locally restricted decreases or increases in concentration (-87 to +1378%) occurred. The results indicate the necessity to account for existing or planned avenue-trees in neighborhood scale dispersion studies. Their consideration is prerequisite for reliable urban air quality assessment. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.