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Effects of solid barriers on dispersion of roadway emissions
Citation:
Schulte, N., M. Snyder, V. Isakov, D. Heist, AND A. Venkatram. Effects of solid barriers on dispersion of roadway emissions. ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 97:286-295, (2014).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory’s Atmospheric Modeling Division (AMAD) conducts research in support of EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment. AMAD’s research program is engaged in developing and evaluating predictive atmospheric models on all spatial and temporal scales for forecasting the Nation’s air quality and for assessing changes in air quality and air pollutant exposures, as affected by changes in ecosystem management and regulatory decisions. AMAD is responsible for providing a sound scientific and technical basis for regulatory policies based on air quality models to improve ambient air quality. The models developed by AMAD are being used by EPA, NOAA, and the air pollution community in understanding and forecasting not only the magnitude of the air pollution problem, but also in developing emission control policies and regulations for air quality improvements.
Description:
Several studies have found that exposure to traffic-generated air pollution is associated with several adverse health effects. Field studies, laboratory experiments, and numerical simulations indicate that roadside barriers represent a practical method of mitigating the impact of vehicle emissions because near road concentrations are significantly reduced downwind of a barrier relative to concentrations in the absence of a barrier. These studies also show that the major effects of barriers on concentrations are: 1) the concentration is well mixed over a height roughly proportional to the barrier height, and this effect persists over several barrier heights downwind, 2) the turbulence that spreads the plume vertically is increased downwind of the barrier, 3) the pollutant is lofted above the top of the barrier. This paper ties these effects together using two semi-empirical dispersion models. These models provide good descriptions of concentrations measured in a wind tunnel study and a tracer field study. Their performance is best during neutral and stable conditions. The models overestimate concentrations near the barrier during unstable conditions. We illustrate an application of these models by estimating the effect of barrier height on concentrations during neutral, stable, and unstable conditions.
