Passive control potentials of trees and on-street parked cars in reduction of air pollution exposure in urban street canyons

K V Abhijith; Sharad Gokhale

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2015.04.013

Passive control potentials of trees and on-street parked cars in reduction of air pollution exposure in urban street canyons

Environ Pollut. 2015 Sep:204:99-108. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2015.04.013. Epub 2015 Apr 29.

Authors

K V Abhijith¹, Sharad Gokhale²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, 781039, Assam, India.
² Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, 781039, Assam, India. Electronic address: sharadbg@iitg.ernet.in.

PMID: 25935610
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2015.04.013

Abstract

This study investigates the passive-control-potentials of trees and on-street parked cars on pedestrian exposure to air pollutants in a street canyon using three-dimensional CFD. Since, according to some studies trees deteriorate air quality and cars parked roadside improve it, the combine as well as separate effects of trees and on-street parked cars have been examined. For this, different tree canopy layouts and parking configurations have been developed and pedestrian exposure for each has been analysed. The results showed, for example, tree crown with high porosity and low-stand density in combination with parallel or perpendicular car parking reduced the pedestrian exposure considerably.

Keywords: CFD; Car parking; Exposure; Street canyon; Trees; Urban air quality; Vegetation.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants / analysis
Air Pollutants / metabolism*
Air Pollution / analysis
Air Pollution / prevention & control
Cities
Environmental Monitoring
Motor Vehicles
Parking Facilities
Trees / metabolism*

Substances

Air Pollutants