Dispersion modelling of traffic induced ultrafine particles in a street canyon in Antwerp, Belgium and comparison with observations Original Research Article

The aim of this study is to investigate the dispersion of ultrafine particles and its spatial distribution in a street canyon and its neighbourhood with the 3D CFD model ENVI-met®. The performance of the model at street scale is evaluated and the importance of the boundary conditions like wind field and traffic emissions on the UFP concentration is demonstrated. To support and validate the modelled results, a short-term measurement campaign was conducted in a street canyon in Antwerp, Belgium. The UFP concentration was measured simultaneously with P-TRACK (TSI Model 8525) at four different locations in the canyon. The modelled UFP concentrations compare well with the measured data (correlation coefficient R from 0.44 to 0.93) within the standard deviation of the measurements. Despite the moderate traffic flow in the street canyon, UFP concentrations in the canyon are in general double of the background concentrations, indicating the high local contribution for this particle number concentration. Some of the observed concentration profiles are not resembled by the model simulations. For these specific anomalies, further analysis is performed and plausible explanations are put forward. The role of wind direction and traffic emissions is investigated. The performance evaluation of ENVI-met® shows that in general the model qualitatively and quantitatively describes the dispersion of UFP in the street canyon study.