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Author Lauriks, T.; Longo, R.; Baetens, D.; Derudi, M.; Parente, A.; Bellemans, A.; van Beeck, J.; Denys, S. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Application of improved CFD modeling for prediction and mitigation of traffic-related air pollution hotspots in a realistic urban street Type A1 Journal article
  Year (down) 2021 Publication Atmospheric Environment Abbreviated Journal Atmos Environ  
  Volume 246 Issue Pages 118127  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)  
  Abstract The correct prediction of air pollutants dispersed in urban areas is of paramount importance to safety, public health and a sustainable environment. Vehicular traffic is one of the main sources of nitrogen oxides (NO ) and particulate matter (PM), strongly related to human morbidity and mortality. In this study, the pollutant level and distribution in a section of one of the main road arteries of Antwerp (Belgium, Europe) are analyzed. The assessment is performed through computational fluid dynamics (CFD), acknowledged as a powerful tool to predict and study dispersion phenomena in complex atmospheric environments. The two main traffic lanes are modeled as emitting sources and the surrounding area is explicitly depicted. A Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) approach specific for Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) simulations is employed. After a validation on a wind tunnel urban canyon test case, the dispersion within the canopy of two relevant urban pollutants, nitrogen dioxide (NO) and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 10 m (PM10), is studied. An experimental field campaign led to the availability of wind velocity and direction data, as well as PM10 concentrations in some key locations within the urban canyon. To accurately predict the concentration field, a relevant dispersion parameter, the turbulent Schmidt number, , is prescribed as a locally variable quantity. The pollutant distributions in the area of interest – exhibiting strong heterogeneity – are finally demonstrated, considering one of the most frequent and concerning wind directions. Possible local remedial measures are conceptualized, investigated and implemented and their outcomes are directly compared. A major goal is, by realistically reproducing the district of interest, to identify the locations inside this intricate urban canyon where the pollutants are stagnating and to analyze which solution acts as best mitigation measure. It is demonstrated that removal by electrostatic precipitation (ESP), an active measure, and by enhancing the dilution process through wind catchers, a passive measure, are effective for local pollutant removal in a realistic urban canyon. It is also demonstrated that the applied ABL methodology resolves some well known problems in ABL dispersion modeling.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000613550100003 Publication Date 2020-12-07  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1352-2310 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.629 Times cited Open Access OpenAccess  
  Notes Approved Most recent IF: 3.629  
  Call Number UA @ admin @ c:irua:173917 Serial 7477  
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Author Castanheiro, A.; Hofman, J.; Nuyts, G.; Joosen, S.; Spassov, S.; Blust, R.; Lenaerts, S.; De Wael, K.; Samson, R. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Leaf accumulation of atmospheric dust : biomagnetic, morphological and elemental evaluation using SEM, ED-XRF and HR-ICP-MS Type A1 Journal article
  Year (down) 2020 Publication Atmospheric Environment Abbreviated Journal Atmos Environ  
  Volume 221 Issue 221 Pages 117082  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; AXES (Antwerp X-ray Analysis, Electrochemistry and Speciation); Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)  
  Abstract Atmospheric dust deposition on plants enables the collection of site-specific particulate matter (PM). Knowing the morphology and composition of PM aids in disclosing their emitting sources as well as the associated human health risk. Therefore, this study aimed for a leaf-level holistic analysis of dust accumulation on plant leaves. Plant species (ivy and strawberry) with distinct leaf macro- and micro-morphology were exposed during 3 months at a moderate road traffic site in Antwerp, Belgium. Leaves collected every three weeks were analyzed for their magnetic signature, morphology and elemental content, by a combination of techniques (biomagnetic analyses, ED-XRF, HR-ICP-MS, SEM). Dust accumulation on the leaves was observed both visually (SEM) and magnetically, while the metal enrichment was limited (only evident for Cr) and more variable over time. Temporal dynamics during the second half of the exposure period, due to precipitation events and reduction of atmospheric pollution input, were evidenced in our results (elements/magnetically/SEM). Ivy accumulated more dust than strawberry leaves and seemed less susceptible to wash-off, even though strawberry leaves contain trichomes and a rugged micromorphology, leaf traits considered to be important for capturing PM. The magnetic enrichment (in small-grained, SD/PSD magnetite particles), on the other hand, was not species-specific, indicating a common contributing source. Variations in pollution contributions, meteorological phenomena, leaf traits, particle deposition (and encapsulation) versus micronutrients depletion, are discussed in light of the conducted monitoring campaign. Although not completely elucidative, the complex, multifactorial process of leaf dust accumulation can better be understood through a combination of techniques.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000503097100001 Publication Date 2019-11-03  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1352-2310 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 5 Times cited Open Access  
  Notes ; The authors thank the Flemish Environment Agency (VMM) for their collaboration and air quality and meteorological data, and Karen Wuyts for the discussion about plant leaf characteristics. A.C. gratefully acknowledges the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) for her PhD fellowship (1S21418N). J.H. received a FWO postdoctoral fellowship grant (1214816N). ; Approved Most recent IF: 5; 2020 IF: 3.629  
  Call Number UA @ admin @ c:irua:165458 Serial 5691  
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Author Wuyts, K.; Hofman, J.; van Wittenberghe, S.; Nuyts, G.; De Wael, K.; Samson, R. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title A new opportunity for biomagnetic monitoring of particulate pollution in an urban environment using tree branches Type A1 Journal article
  Year (down) 2018 Publication Atmospheric environment : an international journal Abbreviated Journal Atmos Environ  
  Volume 190 Issue 190 Pages 177-187  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; AXES (Antwerp X-ray Analysis, Electrochemistry and Speciation)  
  Abstract Environmental magnetism, and the magnetic leaf signal in particular, is amply investigated and applied as proxy for atmospheric particulate matter pollution. In this study, we investigated the magnetic signal of annual segments of tree branches, and the composition of particles deposited hereon. Branches are, contrary to leaves of deciduous trees, available during leaf-off seasons and exposed to air pollution year-round. We examined the intra- and inter-tree variation in saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM) of branch internodes of London plane (Platanus x aeerifolia Willd.) trees in an urban environment. The branch SIRM, normalized by surface area, ranged from 18 to 650 x 10(-6) angstrom; the median amounted to 106 x 10(-6) angstrom. Most of the branch magnetic signal was attributed to the epidermis or bark, and the presence of metal-containing particles on the branch surfaces was confirmed by SEM-EDX. The location of the trees and the height, the depth in the crown and the age of the branches significantly influenced the branch SIRM. The median branch SIRM was up to 135% higher near a busy ring road than in quiet environments (city park and quiet street canyon), and was linked to the presence of Fe-rich particles with co-occurrence of trace metals such as Cr, Cu, Zn and Mn on the branch surface. Within the tree crowns, the branch SIRM generally decreased with increasing height, and was 22% higher in the interior than at the periphery of the crowns. Within the branches, the SIRM increased with each year of exposure, but did not relate to year-to-year variation in particle concentrations due to branch surface changes (epidermis shedding). Our results provide indications that branches can be a valuable alternative for biomagnetic monitoring of particulate pollution, but intra-tree variability in branch SIRM can be substantial due to the branch's location in the tree and branch age.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000444659400017 Publication Date 2018-07-11  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1352-2310 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.629 Times cited 3 Open Access  
  Notes ; We would like to thank the city council services of the city of Antwerp for their logistical support. We are grateful to Ana Castanheiro and Leen Van Ham for laboratory and SEM assistance. JH is supported as postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO; 12I4816N) and SVW is supported by a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship under the grant agreement no 701815 FLUOPHOT. ; Approved Most recent IF: 3.629  
  Call Number UA @ admin @ c:irua:153607 Serial 5454  
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Author García Sánchez, C.; Van Tendeloo, G.; Gorle, C. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Quantifying inflow uncertainties in RANS simulations of urban pollutant dispersion Type A1 Journal article
  Year (down) 2017 Publication Atmospheric environment : an international journal Abbreviated Journal Atmos Environ  
  Volume 161 Issue Pages 263-273  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)  
  Abstract Numerical simulations of flow and pollutant dispersion in urban environments have the potential to support design and policy decisions that could reduce the population's exposure to air pollution. Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations are a common modeling technique for urban flow and dispersion, but several sources of uncertainty in the simulations can affect the accuracy of the results. The present study proposes a method to quantify the uncertainty related to variability in the inflow boundary conditions. The method is applied to predict flow and pollutant dispersion in downtown Oklahoma City and the results are compared to field measurements available from the Joint Urban 2003 measurement campaign. Three uncertain parameters that define the inflow profiles for velocity, turbulence kinetic energy and turbulence dissipation are defined: the velocity magnitude and direction, and the terrain roughness length. The uncertain parameter space is defined based on the available measurement data, and a non-intrusive propagation approach that employs 729 simulations is used to quantify the uncertainty in the simulation output. A variance based sensitivity analysis is performed to identify the most influential uncertain parameters, and it is shown that the predicted tracer concentrations are influenced by all three uncertain variables. Subsequently, we specify different probability distributions for the uncertain inflow variables based on the available measurement data and calculate the corresponding means and 95% confidence intervals for comparison with the field measurements at 35 locations in downtown Oklahoma City. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Oxford Editor  
  Language Wos 000403515900025 Publication Date 2017-04-19  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1352-2310 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.629 Times cited 17 Open Access OpenAccess  
  Notes ; The first author's contribution to this work was supported by the doctoral (PhD) grant number 131423 for strategic basic research from the Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT). This work used the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), which is supported by National Science Foundation grant number CTS160009 (Towns et al., 2014). ; Approved Most recent IF: 3.629  
  Call Number UA @ lucian @ c:irua:145761 Serial 4749  
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Author Nakiboglu, G.; Gorlé, C.; Horvath, I.; van Beeck, J.; Blocken, B. pdf  doi
openurl 
  Title Stack gas dispersion measurements with large scale-PIV, aspiration probes and light scattering techniques and comparison with CFD Type A1 Journal article
  Year (down) 2009 Publication Atmospheric environment : an international journal Abbreviated Journal Atmos Environ  
  Volume 43 Issue 21 Pages 3396-3406  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)  
  Abstract The main purpose of this research is to manage simultaneous measurement of velocity and concentration in large cross-sections by recording and processing images of cloud structures to provide more detailed information for e.g. validation of CFD simulations. Dispersion from an isolated stack in an Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) was chosen as the test case and investigated both experimentally and numerically in a wind tunnel. Large Scale-Particle Image Velocimetry (LS-PIV), which records cloud structures instead of individual particles, was used to obtain the velocity field in a vertical plane. The concentration field was determined by two methods: Aspiration Probe (AP) measurements and Light Scattering Technique (LST). In the latter approach, the same set of images used in the LS-PIV was employed. The test case was also simulated using the CFD solver FLUENT 6.3. Comparison between AP measurements and CFD revealed that there is good agreement when using a turbulent Schmidt number of 0.4. For the LST measurements, a non-linear relation between concentration and light intensity was observed and a hyperbolic-based function is proposed as correction function. After applying this correction function, a close agreement between CFD and LST measurements is obtained. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Oxford Editor  
  Language Wos 000267529600013 Publication Date 2009-04-08  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1352-2310; ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.629 Times cited 15 Open Access  
  Notes Approved Most recent IF: 3.629; 2009 IF: 3.139  
  Call Number UA @ lucian @ c:irua:94531 Serial 3147  
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Author Gorlé, C.; van Beeck, J.; Rambaud, P.; Van Tendeloo, G. pdf  doi
openurl 
  Title CFD modelling of small particle dispersion: the influence of the turbulence kinetic energy in the atmospheric boundary layer Type A1 Journal article
  Year (down) 2009 Publication Atmospheric environment : an international journal Abbreviated Journal Atmos Environ  
  Volume 43 Issue 3 Pages 673-681  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)  
  Abstract When considering the modelling of small particle dispersion in the lower part of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) using Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes simulations, the particle paths depend on the velocity profile and on the turbulence kinetic energy, from which the fluctuating velocity components are derived to predict turbulent dispersion. It is therefore important to correctly reproduce the ABL, both for the velocity profile and the turbulence kinetic energy profile. For RANS simulations with the standard kå model, Richards and Hoxey (1993. Appropriate boundary conditions for computational wind engineering models using the kå turbulence model. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics 4647, 145153.) proposed a set of boundary conditions which result in horizontally homogeneous profiles. The drawback of this method is that it assumes a constant profile of turbulence kinetic energy, which is not always consistent with field or wind tunnel measurements. Therefore, a method was developed which allows the modelling of a horizontally homogeneous turbulence kinetic energy profile that is varying with height. By comparing simulations performed with the proposed method to simulations performed with the boundary conditions described by Richards and Hoxey (1993. Appropriate boundary conditions for computational wind engineering models using the kå turbulence model. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics 4647, 145153.), the influence of the turbulence kinetic energy on the dispersion of small particles over flat terrain is quantified.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Oxford Editor  
  Language Wos 000262737900023 Publication Date 2008-10-16  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1352-2310; ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.629 Times cited 79 Open Access  
  Notes Iwt Approved Most recent IF: 3.629; 2009 IF: 3.139  
  Call Number UA @ lucian @ c:irua:76016 Serial 306  
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