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Incorporating the impact of roadside barrier effects on dispersion into AERMOD.

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Title: Incorporating the impact of roadside barrier effects on dispersion into AERMOD.
Authors: Francisco, Dianna M.1 (AUTHOR) francisco.dianna@epa.gov, Heist, David K.2 (AUTHOR), Venkatram, Akula3 (AUTHOR), Brouwer, Lydia H.4 (AUTHOR), Perry, Steven G.2 (AUTHOR)
Source: Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association (Taylor & Francis Ltd). Jan2024, Vol. 74 Issue 1, p39-51. 13p.
Subject Terms: Wind tunnels, Noise barriers, Roadside improvement, Dispersion (Chemistry), Wind measurement
Company/Entity: United States. Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract: This paper focuses on the impact of solid barriers located upwind of a highway in reducing vehicle related concentrations that occur downwind of the roadway, compared to a highway without barriers. Measurements made in the United States Environmental Protection Agency's meteorological wind tunnel show that the mitigating impact of an upwind barrier is comparable to that of a downwind barrier. Upwind barriers lead to reductions in pollution concentrations by drawing emissions in from the highway toward the barrier. The emissions are then entrained into the flow above the recirculation zone and dispersed vertically as they are advected downwind. This upwind transport of vehicle emissions leads to concentrations at the center of the roadways that are roughly 200–300% higher than those measured on roadways with downwind barriers. This difference between on-road concentrations indicates that although both types of barriers mitigate the impact of vehicle emissions downwind of a roadway, the upwind barrier may create adverse air quality impacts for the people on the road. We have formulated a semiempirical dispersion model that incorporates the physics revealed by the wind tunnel measurements. This model improves upon a model proposed by Ahangar et al. (2017) by adjusting the wind speed to get a more realistic plume dispersion just downwind of the upwind barrier and also by providing vertical profiles of concentrations in addition to ground-level concentrations. The upwind barrier model proposed in this paper and the downwind barrier model described in Francisco et al. (2022) have been incorporated into AERMOD (version 21112) as a nonregulatory option, including the new two-barrier option when modeling both barriers on the same roadway. Implications: Our paper presents an air dispersion model algorithm for modeling the effect of upwind noise barriers on dispersion of traffic-related emissions from roadways, which was incorporated into EPA's AERMOD and then evaluated using observations from a wind tunnel experiment. The results are compared and contrasted with results from both a no-barrier case and downwind barrier cases. This manuscript expands on previously published work analyzing the effect of barrier height and source-to-barrier distance on downwind dispersion (Atmos. Pollut. Res., 13:101385, 2022, ). The current manuscript uses the same wind tunnel setup as reported there, but focuses on a different subset of cases, namely the upwind barrier cases, when developing dispersion model algorithms to simulate the observed effects. We believe the evaluations of the vertical profiles from the wind tunnel study, development, and incorporation of the upwind barrier algorithms into AERMOD, and model evaluation of these new algorithms are significant contributions to understanding the effects of these commonly used roadside barriers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association (Taylor & Francis Ltd) is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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An: 174237056
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  Data: Incorporating the impact of roadside barrier effects on dispersion into AERMOD.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Francisco%2C+Dianna+M%2E%22">Francisco, Dianna M.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> francisco.dianna@epa.gov</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Heist%2C+David+K%2E%22">Heist, David K.</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Venkatram%2C+Akula%22">Venkatram, Akula</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Brouwer%2C+Lydia+H%2E%22">Brouwer, Lydia H.</searchLink><relatesTo>4</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Perry%2C+Steven+G%2E%22">Perry, Steven G.</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Wind+tunnels%22">Wind tunnels</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Noise+barriers%22">Noise barriers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Roadside+improvement%22">Roadside improvement</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Dispersion+%28Chemistry%29%22">Dispersion (Chemistry)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Wind+measurement%22">Wind measurement</searchLink>
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– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: This paper focuses on the impact of solid barriers located upwind of a highway in reducing vehicle related concentrations that occur downwind of the roadway, compared to a highway without barriers. Measurements made in the United States Environmental Protection Agency's meteorological wind tunnel show that the mitigating impact of an upwind barrier is comparable to that of a downwind barrier. Upwind barriers lead to reductions in pollution concentrations by drawing emissions in from the highway toward the barrier. The emissions are then entrained into the flow above the recirculation zone and dispersed vertically as they are advected downwind. This upwind transport of vehicle emissions leads to concentrations at the center of the roadways that are roughly 200–300% higher than those measured on roadways with downwind barriers. This difference between on-road concentrations indicates that although both types of barriers mitigate the impact of vehicle emissions downwind of a roadway, the upwind barrier may create adverse air quality impacts for the people on the road. We have formulated a semiempirical dispersion model that incorporates the physics revealed by the wind tunnel measurements. This model improves upon a model proposed by Ahangar et al. (2017) by adjusting the wind speed to get a more realistic plume dispersion just downwind of the upwind barrier and also by providing vertical profiles of concentrations in addition to ground-level concentrations. The upwind barrier model proposed in this paper and the downwind barrier model described in Francisco et al. (2022) have been incorporated into AERMOD (version 21112) as a nonregulatory option, including the new two-barrier option when modeling both barriers on the same roadway. Implications: Our paper presents an air dispersion model algorithm for modeling the effect of upwind noise barriers on dispersion of traffic-related emissions from roadways, which was incorporated into EPA's AERMOD and then evaluated using observations from a wind tunnel experiment. The results are compared and contrasted with results from both a no-barrier case and downwind barrier cases. This manuscript expands on previously published work analyzing the effect of barrier height and source-to-barrier distance on downwind dispersion (Atmos. Pollut. Res., 13:101385, 2022, ). The current manuscript uses the same wind tunnel setup as reported there, but focuses on a different subset of cases, namely the upwind barrier cases, when developing dispersion model algorithms to simulate the observed effects. We believe the evaluations of the vertical profiles from the wind tunnel study, development, and incorporation of the upwind barrier algorithms into AERMOD, and model evaluation of these new algorithms are significant contributions to understanding the effects of these commonly used roadside barriers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association (Taylor & Francis Ltd) is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1080/10962247.2023.2277754
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 13
        StartPage: 39
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Wind tunnels
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Noise barriers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Roadside improvement
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Dispersion (Chemistry)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Wind measurement
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: United States. Environmental Protection Agency
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Incorporating the impact of roadside barrier effects on dispersion into AERMOD.
        Type: main
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      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Francisco, Dianna M.
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Heist, David K.
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            NameFull: Venkatram, Akula
      – PersonEntity:
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            NameFull: Brouwer, Lydia H.
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Perry, Steven G.
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            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Text: Jan2024
              Type: published
              Y: 2024
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              Value: 74
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            – TitleFull: Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association (Taylor & Francis Ltd)
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