Peter Vos

Improving local air quality in cities: To tree or not to tree?

Vegetation is often quoted as an effective measure to mitigate urban air quality problems. In this work we demonstrate by the use of computer models that the air quality effect of urban vegetation is more complex than implied by such general assumptions. By modelling a variety of real-life examples we show that roadside urban vegetation rather leads to increased pollutant concentrations than it improves the air quality, at least locally. This can be explained by the fact that trees and other types of vegetation reduce the ventilation that is responsible for diluting the traffic emitted pollutants. This aerodynamic effect is shown to be much stronger than the pollutant removal capacity of vegetation. Although the modelling results may be subject to a certain level of uncertainty, our results strongly indicate that the use of urban vegetation for alleviating a local air pollution hotspot is not expected to be a viable solution.

Nektar++: An open-source spectral/hp element framework

Nektar++ is an open-source software framework designed to support the development of high-performance scalable solvers for partial differential equations using the spectral/hp element method. High-order methods are gaining prominence in several engineering and biomedical applications due to their improved accuracy over low-order techniques at reduced computational cost for a given number of degrees of freedom. However, their proliferation is often limited by their complexity, which makes these methods challenging to implement and use. Nektar++ is an initiative to overcome this limitation by encapsulating the mathematical complexities of the underlying method within an efficient C++ framework, making the techniques more accessible to the broader scientific and industrial communities. The software supports a variety of discretisation techniques and implementation strategies, supporting methods research as well as application-focused computation, and the multi-layered structure of the framework allows the user to embrace as much or as little of the complexity as they need. The libraries capture the mathematical constructs of spectral/hp element methods, while the associated collection of pre-written PDE solvers provides out-of-the-box application-level functionality and a template for users who wish to develop solutions for addressing questions in their own scientific domains. Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queens University, Belfast, N. Ireland No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 1052456 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 42851367 External routines: Boost, PFTW, MPI, BLAS, LAPACK and METIS (www.cs.umn.edu) Nature of problem: The Nektar++ framework is designed to enable the discretisation and solution of time-independent or time-dependent partial differential equations. Running time: The tests provided take a few minutes to run. Runtime in general depends on mesh size and total integration time.

From h to p efficiently: Implementing finite and spectral/hp element methods to achieve optimal performance for low- and high-order discretisations

The spectral/hp element method can be considered as bridging the gap between the - traditionally low-order - finite element method on one side and spectral methods on the other side. Consequently, a major challenge which arises in implementing the spectral/hp element methods is to design algorithms that perform efficiently for both low- and high-order spectral/hp discretisations, as well as discretisations in the intermediate regime. In this paper, we explain how the judicious use of different implementation strategies can be employed to achieve high efficiency across a wide range of polynomial orders. Furthermore, based upon this efficient implementation, we analyse which spectral/hp discretisation (which specific combination of mesh-size h and polynomial order P) minimises the computational cost to solve an elliptic problem up to a predefined level of accuracy. We investigate this question for a set of both smooth and non-smooth problems.

Time-dependent generalized polynomial chaos

Generalized polynomial chaos (gPC) has non-uniform convergence and tends to break down for long-time integration. The reason is that the probability density distribution (PDF) of the solution evolves as a function of time. The set of orthogonal polynomials associated with the initial distribution will therefore not be optimal at later times, thus causing the reduced efficiency of the method for long-time integration. Adaptation of the set of orthogonal polynomials with respect to the changing PDF removes the error with respect to long-time integration. In this method new stochastic variables and orthogonal polynomials are constructed as time progresses. In the new stochastic variable the solution can be represented exactly by linear functions. This allows the method to use only low order polynomial approximations with high accuracy. The method is illustrated with a simple decay model for which an analytic solution is available and subsequently applied to the three mode Kraichnan-Orszag problem with favorable results.

Impact of trees on pollutant dispersion in street canyons: A numerical study of the annual average effects in Antwerp, Belgium

Effects of vegetation on pollutant dispersion receive increased attention in attempts to reduce air pollutant concentration levels in the urban environment. In this study, we examine the influence of vegetation on the concentrations of traffic pollutants in urban street canyons using numerical simulations with the CFD code OpenFOAM. This CFD approach is validated against literature wind tunnel data of traffic pollutant dispersion in street canyons. The impact of trees is simulated for a variety of vegetation types and the full range of approaching wind directions at 15° interval. All these results are combined using meteo statistics, including effects of seasonal leaf loss, to determine the annual average effect of trees in street canyons. This analysis is performed for two pollutants, elemental carbon (EC) and PM10, using background concentrations and emission strengths for the city of Antwerp, Belgium. The results show that due to the presence of trees the annual average pollutant concentrations increase with about 8% (range of 1% to 13%) for EC and with about 1.4% (range of 0.2 to 2.6%) for PM10. The study indicates that this annual effect is considerably smaller than earlier estimates which are generally based on a specific set of governing conditions (1 wind direction, full leafed trees and peak hour traffic emissions).

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

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.

A generic framework for time-stepping partial differential equations (PDEs): general linear methods, object-oriented implementation and application to fluid problems

Time-stepping algorithms and their implementations are a critical component within the solution of time-dependent partial differential equations (PDEs). In this article, we present a generic framework – both in terms of algorithms and implementations – that allows an almost seamless switch between various explicit, implicit and implicit–explicit (IMEX) time-stepping methods. We put particular emphasis on how to incorporate time-dependent boundary conditions, an issue that goes beyond classical ODE theory but which plays an important role in the time-stepping of the PDEs arising in computational fluid dynamics. Our algorithm is based upon J.C. Butchers unifying concept of general linear methods that we have extended to accommodate the family of IMEX schemes that are often used in engineering practice. In the article, we discuss design considerations and present an object-oriented implementation. Finally, we illustrate the use of the framework by applications to a model problem as well as to more complex fluid problems.

Size resolved ultrafine particles emission model--a continues size distribution approach.

A new parameterization for size resolved ultrafine particles (UFP) traffic emissions is proposed based on the results of PARTICULATES project (Samaras et al., 2005). It includes the emission factors from the Emission Inventory Guidebook (2006) (total number of particles, #/km/veh), the shape of the corresponding particle size distribution given in PARTICULATES and data for the traffic activity. The output of the model UFPEM (UltraFine Particle Emission Model) is a sum of continuous distributions of ultrafine particles emissions per vehicle type (passenger cars and heavy duty vehicles), fuel (petrol and diesel) and average speed representative for urban, rural and highway driving. The results from the parameterization are compared with measured total number of ultrafine particles and size distributions in a tunnel in Antwerp (Belgium). The measured UFP concentration over the entire campaign shows a close relation to the traffic activity. The modelled concentration is found to be lower than the measured in the campaign. The average emission factor from the measurement is 4.29E+14 #/km/veh whereas the calculated is around 30% lower. A comparison of emission factors with literature is done as well and in overall a good agreement is found. For the size distributions it is found that the measured distributions consist of three modes--Nucleation, Aitken and accumulation and most of the ultrafine particles belong to the Nucleation and the Aitken modes. The modelled Aitken mode (peak around 0.04-0.05 μm) is found in a good agreement both as amplitude of the peak and the number of particles whereas the modelled Nucleation mode is shifted to smaller diameters and the peak is much lower that the observed. Time scale analysis shows that at 300 m in the tunnel coagulation and deposition are slow and therefore neglected. The UFPEM emission model can be used as a source term in dispersion models.

Time-Dependent Polynomial Chaos

Conventional generalized polynomial chaos is known to fail for long time integration, loosing its optimal convergence behaviour and developing unacceptable error levels. The reason for this loss of convergence is the assumption that the probability density function is constant in time. By allowing a probability density function to evolve in time the optimal properties of polynomial chaos are retrieved without resorting to high polynomial degrees.This time‐dependent approach is applied to a system of coupled non‐linear differential equations. These results are compared to the conventional generalized polynomial chaos solutions and Monte Carlo simulations.

CFD Simulations of Air Pollution in Urban Micro Environments

This paper presents the results of two recent case studies which were evaluated with the CFD model ENVI-met. In a first case, the impact of a vegetation barrier along a highway on the local air quality is studied. In a second case, the dispersion of total UFP concentrations within a street canyon is examined. In both cases, ENVI-met model output is compared with measurements resulting in an overall acceptable agreement of the model performance.