Modeling study on dispersion and scavenging of traffic pollutants at the location near a busy road

Abstract

The information about the dispersion and scavenging of traffic-related pollutants at the locations near busy expressways is very helpful to highway planners for developing better plans to reduce exposures to air pollution for people living as well as children attending schools and child care centers near roadways. The objective of the current study was to give information in the dispersion and scavenging of vehiclederived pollutants at the region near a busy urban expressway by a combination of two different model calculations. The modified Gaussian dispersion model and the Lagrange type below-cloud scavenging model were applied to evaluate NOx dispersion and DEP (Diesel exhaust particles) wet removal, respectively. The highest NOx was marked 53.17 ppb within 20-30 meters from the target urban expressway during the heaviest traffic hours (08:00AM-09:00AM) and it was 2.8 times higher than that of really measured at a nearby ambient measuring station. The calculated DEP concentration in size-resolved raindrops showed a continuous decreasing with increasing raindrop size. Especially, a noticeable decrease was found between 0.2 mm and 1.0 mm raindrop diameter.