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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Roofs and the downwind sides of buildings in street canyons have the lowest levels of particulate matter during a single-source pollution event, according to Penn State researchers. The findings have implications for improving evacuation plans during a pollution release as well as for informing ventilation system design of urban buildings.

"Previous research has focused on ambient pollution created by traffic," said Jeremy Gernand, assistant professor of industrial health and safety. "We decided to investigate sources of pollution from a point source of particulate matter, such as a chemical spill or an accidental release from a factory."

The researchers investigated a pollutant release scenario to evaluate the safest locations for evacuation and for building design elements such as air intakes. This marks the first study investigating an emission event from a single source near a street canyon.

Monitoring air quality in urban areas can be very important due to high population density and levels of particulates. Street canyons, or places where the street is bounded on both sides by buildings, are important locations for studying air pollution because they are prevalent in urban areas.

[...] The findings have implications for improving evacuation plans and for informing ventilation system design. In the event of a pollution release emergency from a central source, pedestrians should be evacuated to the leeward side of the transverse channel. For installation of new air intakes, portions of roofs furthest away from inner channels, or roads, of street canyons serve as the safest location, the researchers said.

The researchers reported their findings in the journal Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health.

However, given the variety of possible scenarios, these findings represent only a general guideline and will benefit from further investigation, said Gernand. Building upon the cost-effective modeling approach used in this study, future research will consider additional possibilities with the goal of providing more comprehensive safety recommendations.

More information: Mengfan Li et al, Identifying shelter locations and building air intake risk from release of particulate matter in a three-dimensional street canyon via wind tunnel and CFD simulation, Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health (2019). DOI: 10.1007/s11869-019-00753-1

[20200207_163947 UTC: Updated to correct a copy error in the third paragraph.--martyb]

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