CFD Simulation of Transport and Chemical Transformation of Pollutants in Urban Environments
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70567/mc.v42.ocsid8264Keywords:
atmospheric pollutants, urban street canyon, photostationary state, reactingFoamAbstract
The characterization of the dispersion and chemical reactivity of pollutants in urban environments requires simulation tools that integrate atmospheric fluid dynamics, urban geometry, and the associated chemical processes. This work addresses the analysis of the transport and chemical transformation of pollutant species emitted by vehicles in an urban setting, employing the reactingFoam solver from OpenFOAM®. This numerical approach allows for the treatment of configurations where transport and chemical kinetics are strongly coupled, particularly in photochemical reactions induced by solar radiation and in the formation of secondary pollutants. The case study is based on a street canyon-type domain under photostationary conditions, representing a typical urban environment configuration. In this scenario, the spatiotemporal distribution of key species such as nitrogen oxides (NO y NO2) and ozone (O3) is analyzed, evaluating the model’s ability to reproduce both the flow patterns and the chemical evolution of pollutants. The results show that the numerical model adequately represents the coupling between convective-diffusive transport and chemical reactions, enabling its application to air quality studies in more complex urban environments.
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