Atmospheric Environment 35 (2001) 61176127

Monte Carlo simulation of nitrogen oxides dispersion from a

vehicular exhaust plume and its sensitivity studies
T.L. Chan
a,
*, G. Dong
a
, C.S. Cheung
a
, C.W. Leung
a
, C.P. Wong
a
, W.T. Hung
b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
b
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Received 28 February 2001; received in revised form 20 July 2001; accepted 26 July 2001
Abstract
The pollutant dispersion behavior from the vehicular exhaust plume has a direct impact on human health,
particularly to the drivers, bicyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians, people working nearby and vehicle passengers. A two-
dimensional pollutant dispersion numerical model was developed based on the joint-scalar probability density function
(PDF) approach coupled with a k2e turbulence model to simulate the initial dispersion process of nitrogen oxides,
temperature and ow velocity distributions from a vehicular exhaust plume. A Monte Carlo algorithm was used to
solve the PDF transport equations in order to obtain the dispersion distribution of nitrogen oxides concentration. The
model was then validated by a series of sensitivity experimental studies in order to assess the eects of vehicular exhaust
tailpipe velocities, wind speeds and chemistry on the initial dispersion of NO and NO
2
mass concentrations from the
vehicular exhaust plume. The results show that the mass concentrations of nitrogen oxides decrease along the centerline
of the vehicular exhaust plume in the downstream distance. The dispersion process can be enhanced when the vehicular
exhaust tailpipe velocity is much larger than the wind speed. The oxidation reaction of NO plays an important role
when the wind speed is large and the vehicular exhaust exit velocity is small, which leads to chemical reduction of NO,
and the formation and accumulation of NO
2
in the exhaust plume. It is also found that the eect of vehicular exhaust-
induced turbulence in the vicinity of the exhaust tailpipe exit is more dominant than the eect of wind turbulence, while
the wind turbulence gradually shows a signicant role for the dispersion of nitrogen oxides along with the development
of exhaust plume. The range of dispersion of nitrogen oxides in the radial direction is increased along with the
development of vehicular exhaust plume. r 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Vehicular exhaust plume dispersion model; Nitrogen oxides; Joint-scalar PDF approach; Monte Carlo simulation; ke
turbulence model
1. Introduction
The concentration of urban air pollutants due to
motor vehicular emission has gradually become great
public concern. It causes serious impact on our urban air
quality and public health. Modelling of vehicular
pollutant dispersion in atmosphere demonstrates an
eective method for assessing the air quality in dierent
scale environments such as regional scale (202000 km),
urban scale (0.220 km) and near eld scale (0.00.2 km)
(Samson, 1988). Among these scale environments, the
near eld environment has been considered to have
direct impacts on human health, especially to the
drivers, bicyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians, people
working nearby and vehicle passengers. As a result,
many empirical models (e.g. Gaussian and K theory
dispersion models) have been widely used to assess the
pollutant concentrations of near eld environments due
to trac vehicles (H. ark. onen et al., 1995). Because of the
empiricism and over-simplicity (e.g. for turbulence) of
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +852-2766-6656; fax: +852-
2365-4703.
E-mail address: mmtlchan@polyu.edu.hk (T.L. Chan).
1352-2310/01/$ - see front matter r 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 1 3 5 2 - 2 3 1 0 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 3 9 7 - 1
these models, computational uid dynamics (CFD)
models have therefore been proposed to simulate the
pollutant dispersion behavior physically. In these CFD
models, two- or three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged
NavierStokes equations and pollutant transport equa-
tion including the turbulence models have been widely
used (Eichhorn, 1996; Mestayer et al., 1996; Leitl and
Meroney, 1997; Chabni et al., 1998; Huang et al., 2000;
Meeder and Nieuwstadt, 2000). Although these CFD
models are able to reproduce the qualitative features of
airow and pollutant concentrations, they have been
mostly used only in street canyon environment.
Fraigneau et al. (1995) simulated a two-dimensional
pollutant (nitrogen oxides) dispersion process near the
motorway which was coupled with the reaction of nitric
oxides and ambient ozone. The interaction between the
turbulence and chemical reaction was considered within
the local scale of 200 m in the vicinity of motorway.
However, the present study is intended to apply the
CFD models to the near eld region of initial dispersion
behavior of pollutant plume emitted from a vehicular
exhaust tailpipe. This type of pollutant dispersion not
only has direct impact on human health, but also
constitutes a major fraction of the total pollutant
dispersion (Venkatram et al., 1999).
In the initial dispersion process of the exhaust plume,
the vehicular exhaust pollutants are more inuenced by
the vehicle-induced turbulence than by the prevailing
wind (Karim and Matsui, 1998). Therefore, it is
necessary to have a better understanding of the eects
of interaction between the wind turbulence and vehicle-
induced turbulence on the pollutant dispersion of
vehicular exhaust plume near eld region. In the present
study, a probability density function (PDF) transport
equation (Pope, 1985) coupled with a k2e turbulence
model are used to simulate the initial pollutant disper-
sion from a vehicular exhaust tailpipe. The PDF
transport equation contains a large number of indepen-
dent variables (e.g. chemical species concentrations,
temperature, etc.), hence Monte Carlo algorithm is
introduced to provide a feasible alternative means of
obtaining numerical solution (Pope, 1985). Comparing
this calculation method with the conventional CFD
models, the PDF approach overcomes the diculties of
turbulence closure problem, in which the governing
equations of the CFD model, the eects of convection,
non-linear reaction rates and mean pressure gradient
can be solved directly without making any approxima-
tion (Pope, 2000).
The aim of this work is to develop a two-dimensional
pollutant dispersion numerical model based on the joint-
scalar PDF approach and a k2e turbulence model to
simulate the initial dispersion process of nitrogen oxides,
temperature and ow velocity distributions from a
vehicular exhaust plume. This is considered to be the
rst attempt in applying the PDF approach in the
modeling of initial pollutant dispersion from a vehicular
exhaust plume. A Monte Carlo algorithm recently
developed by Chen et al. (2000) is also used to solve
the PDF transport equation for obtaining the thermo-
dynamic parameters (i.e. temperature and concentra-
tions of chemical species). This numerical model will
then be validated by comparing the measured and
calculated nitrogen oxides data by simulating the vehicle
situations in the crowded roads of most Asian cities. The
simulated situations include vehicles at both low idling
condition (when vehicles stop due to the congested road
trac or at red trac light) and high idling condition
(when vehicles start moving in response to the change of
trac light from red to green).
2. Numerical model descriptions
In general, the vehicular pollutants are emitted from
the exhaust tailpipe at certain ow rates, then they mix
with air and disperse into the atmosphere. This process
can be considered as a boundary layer problem, in which
the velocity component along x-direction is much larger
than other directions, while the gradients along this
direction are much smaller than that along the other
directions as shown in Fig. 1.
For a two-dimensional axisymmetric problem in
Fig. 1, the governing equations using cylindrical co-
ordinate are as follows:
Continuity equation:
q
qx
r h i* ur
q
qr
r h i* vr 0: 1
Momentum equation:
r h i* u
q* u
qx
r h i* v
q* u
qr

1
r
q
qr
rm
eff
qu
qr
_ _
r
N
r h ig: 2
Fig. 1. Conguration of vehicular exhaust plume and experi-
mental setup.
T.L. Chan et al. / Atmospheric Environment 35 (2001) 61176127 6118
Turbulent energy (k) equation:
r h i* u
qk
qx
r h i* v
qk
qr

1
r
q
qr
rG
k; eff
qk
qr
_ _
m
eff
qu
qr
_ _
2
r h ie: 3
Turbulent dissipation (e) equation:
r h i* u
qe
qx
r h i* v
qe
qr

1
r
q
qr
rG
e; eff
qe
qr
_ _
C
e
1
m
eff
qu
qr
_ _
2
C
e
2
r h ie
_ _
e
k
4
where /rS is weighted average density; G
k; eff

m
eff
=s
k; eff
; G
e; eff
m
eff
=s
e; eff
; G
k; eff
and G
e; eff
are
eective transport coecients of k and e, respectively,
s
k; eff
1:0; s
e; eff
1:3; m
eff
m
t
m
l
; m
eff
the eective
viscosity, m
t
/rSC
m
k
2
=e; C
m
0:09; C
e
1
1:45;
C
e
2
1:92: Due to the poor generality of standard k2e
model in the application of axisymmetric and planar jet
(Pope, 1978), the values of constant C
m
and C
e
2
values
were modied to C
m
0:065 and C
e
2
1:85 accordingly
(Jones and Kakhi, 1998).
For boundary conditions of the governing Eqs. (1)
(4), internal boundary of integrated domain is symme-
trical axis, the gradients of the variables in radial
direction are zero. External boundary of integrated
domain is free stream boundary and * u is wind speed in
axial direction. The initial velocity of pollutants was
measured from the vehicular exhaust tailpipe exit and k
and e were estimated (Huang et al., 1999).
The PDF transport equation of scalar thermodynamic
parameters (i.e. temperature and concentrations of
chemical species) can be expressed in the following form
r h i
q
*
P
qt
r h i* u
q
*
P
qx

q
qx
r h i
*
P u
00
_
j
c

q
qc
r h i
*
P
1
r
qJ
a
qx
j
c
_ _ _ _
r h i
q
qc

*
PS
a
; 5
where
*
P is the density weighting average form of scalar
probability density function, P
f
c; x; t; f the scalar
thermodynamic parameters, f f
1
; f
2
; y; f
s
; c
the s-dimensional composition-space coordinate, J
a
the diusion ux of the a-th chemical species, x the
Cartesian coordinate, S
a
the source term due to the
chemical reactions (i.e. the chemical kinetic rate of a-th
chemical species). In the present calculations, a gas-
phase chemical kinetics code, CHEMKIN-II (Kee et al.,
1989) is incorporated into the PDF transport equation
in which the detailed gas-phase chemical kinetic
mechanisms includes slow, reaction-dominated and fast
chemistry are taken into consideration as described by
Bilger (1980).
In Eq. (5), the rst term on the right-hand side
represents the physical transport of the PDF due to the
uctuating velocities, it can be modelled by the gradient
transport method. The second term on the right-hand
side represents probability transport in composition-
space due to the molecular dissipation of scalar
uctuations. The Curl model (Curl, 1963) was used to
model this second term. The last term on the right-hand
side of Eq. (5) is the source term of a non-linear chemical
kinetic rate. Since the chemical kinetic rate is only the
function of the thermodynamic parameters, the term can
be solved directly in terms of initial problem of sti
ordinary dierential equation system without making
any approximation (Dong et al., 1999).
The governing equations of ow eld in Eqs. (1)(4)
are discretized by nite-dierence approximations and
solved using tri-diagonal matrix algorithm. However,
the joint-scalar PDF transport Eq. (5) includes a multi-
dimensional composition-space, and it is dicult to
solve by using the nite-dierence approximations. As a
result, a Monte Carlo algorithm was used to solve the
PDF transport equation.
The average value of a random function Qf is
* q
_
Qc
*
Pc dc: 6
For a system consisting of N particles, F f
n
where
n 1; 2; y; N particles, its average value is
# q
1
N

N
n1
Qf
n
: 7
If # q is converged to the probability form of * q in Eq. (6)
for the arbitrary function of Qf when N approaches to
innity, then system F and
*
P are equivalent. In the
Monte Carlo simulation, the nite dierence equation of
the PDF transport Eq. (5) is built using the same
discretization method as the governing equations of
ow eld in Eqs. (1)(4). Each node of the PDF is then
converted into the system which is consisted of N
random samples or particles and can reect the
distribution of the PDF. The physical convection and
diusion (i.e. the rst term of right-hand side in Eq. (5))
are modeled using exchanges of the particles between the
nodes. The mixing process (i.e. the second term of right-
hand side in Eq. (5)) is modeled using the mixing of
particles in each node. The chemical reaction (i.e. the
last term of right-hand side in Eq. (5)) is modeled using
the variations of parameters along with time in the
particle of each node.
In the boundary conditions of the PDF model, the
internal boundary is the symmetrical axis, it may be
assumed that the gradient of the PDF in radial direction
is zero. Hence, there are no exchanges of particles in
radial direction. For the external boundary which is the
free stream condition, it is assumed that the state of all
particles are the same. In the initial conditions, the states
T.L. Chan et al. / Atmospheric Environment 35 (2001) 61176127 6119
of all particles at one node are the same and the values
of thermodynamic parameters are measured.
In the present calculations, the numbers of grid points
used in cross-stream (radial) direction are 100. The
numbers of numerical step in the downstream direction
are about 240,000 in order to cover the computational
domain for the vehicular exhaust plume length of 7.2 m.
These numbers and sizes of numerical step have been
evaluated to be accurate enough in the recent work of
Dong et al. (1999).
3. Experiment and results
To validate the developed numerical model, a diesel
light-duty vehicle was used to obtain the concentrations
of nitrogen oxides (i.e. NO and NO
2
), temperatures and
velocities distributions in the exhaust plume as shown in
Fig. 1. The measured points were in the same height as
that of the exhaust tailpipe above the ground and in the
centerline of exhaust plume. In the experiment, the
selected vehicle was not moving but its engine was
running at the low and high idling conditions in order to
simulate the situations of vehicles stopping at the red
trac light, in low idling condition during the congested
trac and in high idling condition during the change
from red to green trac light. The concentrations of
nitrogen oxides were collected using the sampling bags
and analyzed using the Chemiluminescent NO/NO
x
analyzer (Model 951A, Beckman Instruments, Inc.,
USA). The temperature locations were measured using
the digital thermometer (Tri-Sense, Model 3700, Cole
Parmer Instrument Co., USA). The velocity locations
were measured using the anemometer (Model AM5000,
Airow Development Ltd., UK). Stable atmospheric
condition was chosen and the low wind speed in the
direction of axis of the vehicular exhaust plume was
0.1 ms
1
. The initial measured values at the exit of
exhaust tailpipe are given in Table 1.
Figs. 2 and 3 show the comparison between measured
and calculated scalar thermodynamic parameters (i.e.
NO
x
concentrations and temperatures) along the center-
line of vehicular exhaust plume. Fig. 4 shows the
comparison between measured and calculated velocities
Table 1
The initial measured values at the exit of exhaust tailpipe (wind
speed, U
w
0:1 ms
1
)
Running case NO
x
(ppm) T (K) U
e
(ms
1
)
Low idling 16 325 5.5
High idling 62 427 24.1
Fig. 2. Comparison of NO
x
concentration between the experi-
mental and calculated data along the centerline of vehicular
exhaust plume under the high and low idling cases.
Fig. 3. Comparison of temperature between the experimental
and calculated value along the centerline of vehicular exhaust
plume under the high and low idling cases.
Fig. 4. Comparison of ow velocity between the experimental
and calculated value along the centerline of vehicular exhaust
plume under the high and low idling cases.
T.L. Chan et al. / Atmospheric Environment 35 (2001) 61176127 6120
along the centerline of vehicular exhaust plume. The
results show a good prediction using the present
developed numerical model. These results show that
the nitrogen oxide concentration, temperature and ow
velocity is decreased along the downstream distance of
vehicular exhaust plume.
4. Sensitivity studies
The initial dispersion of the vehicular exhaust plume is
aected by the interaction between the vehicle-induced
and atmospheric turbulence. The interaction between
the wind speed (U
w
) and vehicle exit exhaust velocity
(U
e
) can reect the eect of turbulence on the dispersion
of exhaust pollutants. Hence, nine sensitivity cases of
dierent wind speeds and exit exhaust velocities are
studied in order to examine the interaction between the
initial ow and dispersion of nitrogen oxides as given in
Table 2. In each sensitivity study, the reactive exhaust
plume is also considered in order to study the eect of
chemistry on the dispersion of nitrogen oxides. The
reactive exhaust plume problem was studied experimen-
tally by Fraigneau et al. (1996), and Brown and Bilger
(1996, 1998) and the conversion of nitrogen reaction was
considered as follows:
NO O
3
NO
2
O
2
: 8
The reaction in Eq. (8) is usually considered an
important photochemical reaction in atmosphere, where
the ambient ozone is the product of the reaction of
atomic oxygen derived from photolysis of NO
2
(Wayne,
1991). However, NO can also be oxidized to NO
2
if the
initial dispersion and chemical reaction of vehicular
emissions are very close to the vehicular exhaust tailpipe.
This reaction takes place rapidly in the air (Swaddle,
1997) and the oxidation reaction of NO can be expressed
as
2NO O
2
2NO
2
: 9
In addition, Karamchandani et al. (1998) described
that the reaction in Eq. (9) is important if the point
source of NO concentration is very rich because the
oxidation rate of NO is proportional to the square of
NO concentration. Based on the present time scale
studied, the oxidation reaction of NO takes place earlier
than the photochemical reactions at the initial vehicular
exhaust plume. Hence, the oxidation reaction of NO is
mainly considered in the present study. The chemical
kinetic parameters (i.e. pre-exponent factor, temperature
exponent and activation energy) are taken from the
kinetic reaction mechanism data of Konnov (2000). The
other initial values of computations for all nine cases are
that the atmospheric temperature and vehicular exhaust
temperature from the tailpipe exit are 298 and 400 K,
respectively. The total mass fraction of nitrogen oxides
is 8.66 10
5
. The initial nitrogen oxides are assumed to
be composed of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide
(NO
2
), and the mass fraction ratio of NO/NO
2
is 9.
4.1. Calculated results of ow eld
Fig. 5 shows the variations of ow velocities along the
centerline of vehicular exhaust plume at all nine cases. It
shows the rapid decreases of exhaust plume velocities
within the downstream distance of 2 m. Fig. 6 shows the
variations of ow velocities due to the inuence of the
exhaust plume exit velocities and the wind velocities for
all of the nine cases at the radial distance of 0.3 m. It
shows that the smaller the wind speeds, the earlier they
are disturbed by the exhaust plume. When the exhaust
plume exit velocity increases, the ow velocities increase
due to the disturbance of exhaust plume. Figs. 7 and 8
show the distributions of turbulent kinetic energy (k)
and turbulent dissipation rate (e) in the radial direction
at the downstream of exhaust plume of 1 and 5 m,
Table 2
Summary of the sensitivity studies
Case Wind speed,
U
w
(ms
1
)
Exhaust exit velocity,
U
e
(ms
1
)
1 0.1 24
2 1.0 24
3 2.0 24
4 0.1 12
5 1.0 12
6 2.0 12
7 0.1 6
8 1.0 6
9 2.0 6
Fig. 5. Flow velocity distributions of 9 sensitivity cases along
the centerline of vehicular exhaust plume.
T.L. Chan et al. / Atmospheric Environment 35 (2001) 61176127 6121
respectively. Fig. 7 shows that k and e are large in the
high exhaust exit velocities (i.e. Cases 13), it indicates
that the turbulence of vehicular exhaust plume is strong.
It also shows that the turbulence of the vehicular
exhaust plume with the low wind speed (i.e. 0.1 ms
1
) is
usually strong under the same magnitude of exhaust exit
velocities (i.e. 24, 12 or 6 ms
1
). However, Fig. 8 shows
that k and e are small for all nine cases at the
downstream distance of 5 m. Although the turbulence
(i.e. k and e) of vehicular exhaust plume with high
exhaust exit velocities (Cases 13) is stronger than the
turbulence of exhaust plume with moderate exhaust exit
velocities (Cases 46) or small exhaust exit velocities
(Cases 79), there is no obvious dierence at the
downstream distance of 5 m. Furthermore, for the same
exhaust exit velocity, the turbulence of vehicular exhaust
plume is enhanced along with the increase of the wind
speeds. The results of Figs. 7 and 8 imply that the
turbulence is mainly due to the vehicular exhaust
tailpipe exit velocities in the initial dispersion process
of exhaust plume. It is then gradually inuenced by the
wind speed along with the development of vehicular
exhaust plume.
4.2. Eect of dierent exit exhaust velocities
Fig. 9 shows the initial dispersion process of the
concentrations of reactive and non-reactive nitrogen
oxides along the centerline of vehicular exhaust plume
under the dierent exhaust exit velocities when the wind
speed is xed (i.e. U
w
1:0 ms
1
). In Fig. 9(a), the
concentration distributions of NO decrease exponen-
tially along the centerline of vehicular exhaust plume,
and the decay rate of NO concentration is much faster
when the vehicular exhaust exit velocity is increased. As
the vehicular exhaust exit velocity decreases, the eect of
oxidation reaction on the concentration of NO becomes
apparent. It implies that the eect of the oxidation
reaction on the consumption of NO concentration is
more pronounced than the eect of vehicular exhaust
exit velocity on the dispersion of NO concentration,
especially when the exhaust exit velocity is small (i.e.
U
e
6 ms
1
). In Fig. 9(b), the decay rate of NO
2
concentration is much faster along the centerline of
exhaust plume when the vehicular exhaust exit velocity
is increased. As the exhaust exit velocity decreases, the
eect of oxidation reaction on the mass concentration of
NO
2
becomes apparent. It implies that the eect of
oxidation reaction on the formation of NO
2
concentra-
tion is more pronounced than the eect of vehicular
exhaust exit velocity on the dispersion of NO
2
concen-
tration especially when the exhaust exit velocity is small
(i.e. U
e
6 ms
1
). Both the chemical oxidation reaction
and turbulence inuence the initial dispersion process
of NO and NO
2
concentrations. For the higher ex-
haust exit velocity (i.e. U
e
24 ms
1
), the turbulence
Fig. 6. Flow velocity distributions of 9 sensitivity cases along
the centerline of vehicular exhaust plume at the radial distance
of 0.3 m.
Fig. 7. The radial distributions of: (a) turbulent kinetic energy
and (b) turbulent dissipation rate of all of 9 sensitivity cases at
the downstream distance of 1 m.
T.L. Chan et al. / Atmospheric Environment 35 (2001) 61176127 6122
dominates the initial dispersion process of nitrogen
oxides as shown in Figs. 7 and 8. Under these strong
turbulence conditions, the turbulence can accelerate the
dispersion process of NO concentration. The decay rate
of NO and NO
2
concentrations is much faster along the
centerline of vehicular exhaust plume. However, the
eect of oxidation reaction in the dispersion process of
nitrogen oxides becomes more pronounced at the low
vehicular exhaust exit velocity (i.e. U
e
6 ms
1
) espe-
cially for the NO
2
concentration. Fig. 10 shows the
dispersion distributions of the reactive NO and NO
2
concentrations at the radial distance of 0.3 m when the
wind speed is 1.0 ms
1
. It shows that the dispersion
distributions of NO and NO
2
concentrations increase
along with the increase of exhaust exit velocities. In
addition, the larger the vehicular exhaust exit velocity,
the earlier the dispersion of NO and NO
2
takes place.
There are maximum concentrations of nitrogen oxides
at the exhaust exit velocities of 24 and 12 ms
1
, while
the maximum concentration of nitrogen oxides is still
not reached at the exhaust exit velocities of 6 ms
1
in the
computational domain. These results imply that the
initial dispersion process of nitrogen oxides concentra-
tion increases due to the interaction between the exhaust
velocity and wind speed, which promotes the diusion
and convection of the exhaust pollutants. After the
maximum concentration of nitrogen oxides, it will
gradually decrease due to the dispersion process which
takes place from the vehicular exhaust plume to atmo-
sphere. Figs. 11 and 12 show the dispersion distributions
of the reactive nitrogen oxides concentration in the
radial direction at the downstream distance of 1 and 5 m,
respectively. At the downstream distance of 1 m, there is
no obvious dierence in nitrogen oxides concentration
distributions at the dierent exhaust exit velocities.
However, at the downstream distance of 5 m, the
dispersion distributions of nitrogen oxides concentration
Fig. 8. The radial distributions of: (a) turbulent kinetic energy
and (b) turbulent dissipation rate of all of 9 sensitivity cases at
the downstream distance of 5 m.
Fig. 9. Concentration distributions of: (a) NO and (b) NO
2
along the centerline of vehicular exhaust plume under the
dierent vehicular exhaust exit velocities, U
e
(wind speed,
U
w
1 ms
1
).
T.L. Chan et al. / Atmospheric Environment 35 (2001) 61176127 6123
are increased along with the increase of exhaust exit
velocities.
4.3. Eect of dierent wind speeds
Fig. 13 shows the initial dispersion process of the
reactive and non-reactive nitrogen oxides concentration
along the centerline of vehicular exhaust plume under
dierent wind speeds when the vehicular exhaust exit
velocity is xed (i.e. U
e
6 ms
1
). In Fig. 13(a), the
decay rate of NO concentration is much slower when the
wind speed is increased. The concentration of reactive
NO is slightly lower than the concentration of non-
reactive NO. It implies that the eect of the oxidation
reaction on the consumption of NO concentration
becomes apparent. In Fig. 13(b), the eect of oxidation
reaction on the concentration of NO
2
is more pro-
nounced and it reaches the maximum concentration of
NO
2
at the downstream of vehicular exhaust plume of
3 m when the wind speed is 2 ms
1
. It implies that the
dispersion process of NO concentration is more dicult,
Fig. 11. The radial concentration distributions of NO and NO
2
at the downstream distance of 1 m under the dierent vehicular
exhaust exit velocities, U
e
(wind speed, U
w
1 ms
1
).
Fig. 12. The radial concentration distributions of NO and NO
2
at the downstream distance of 5 m under the dierent vehicular
exhaust exit velocities, U
e
(wind speed, U
w
1 ms
1
).
Fig. 13. Concentration distributions of: (a) NO and (b) NO
2
along the centerline of vehicular exhaust plume under the
dierent wind speeds, U
w
(vehicular exhaust exit velocity,
U
e
6 ms
1
).
Fig. 10. Concentration distributions of NO and NO
2
at the
radial distance of 0.3 m under the dierent vehicular exhaust
exit velocities, U
e
(wind speed, U
w
1 ms
1
).
T.L. Chan et al. / Atmospheric Environment 35 (2001) 61176127 6124
hence the concentration of NO
2
can be accumulated
since the chemical kinetic reaction takes place more
easily in the initial downstream of vehicular exhaust
plume when the wind speed is high. Comparing with
Figs. 9 and 13, the distributions of nitrogen oxides
concentration along the centerline of vehicular exhaust
plume show that the eect of wind speed is more
dominant than the eect of vehicular exhaust exit
velocity on the dispersion of vehicular exhaust pollu-
tants. Fig. 14 shows the dispersion distributions of NO
and NO
2
concentrations at the radial distance of 0.3 m
when the vehicular exhaust exit velocity is 6 ms
1
.
Again, it can be observed that the eect of wind speed
on the dispersion of nitrogen oxides is more obvious
than the eect of exhaust exit velocity. When the wind
speed is smaller, the occurrence of dispersion in radial
direction is earlier. In the case of the wind speed of
2 ms
1
, the dispersion process of nitrogen oxides
concentration does not occur at the radial height of
0.3 m in the computational domain. However, the
distribution of nitrogen oxides concentration tends to
be higher along with the further development of
vehicular exhaust plume when the wind speed is higher.
Figs. 15 and 16 show the dispersion distributions of
nitrogen oxides concentration in the radial direction at
the downstream distance of 1 and 5 m, respectively. At
the downstream distance of 1 m from the vehicular
exhaust exit, there is no obvious dierence in nitrogen
oxides concentration at the dierent wind speeds. At the
downstream distance of 5 m, the dispersion distributions
of nitrogen oxides concentration obviously increased
along with the decrease of wind speeds. The results of
Figs. 11 and 12 indicate that the dispersion of the NO
and NO
2
concentrations in the radial direction becomes
pronounced along with the development of exhaust
plume in the downstream direction under the conditions
of the nine sensitivity cases.
5. Summary and conclusions
A two-dimensional pollutant dispersion numerical
model was developed based on joint-scalar PDF
approach and a k2e turbulence model to simulate the
initial dispersion process of nitrogen oxides, temperature
and ow velocity eld from a vehicular exhaust plume.
A Monte Carlo algorithm was also used to solve the
joint-scalar PDF transport equation in order to obtain
the dispersion distributions of nitrogen oxides concen-
tration and temperature in downstream and radial
directions, while the governing Eqs. (1)(4) were solved
in order to obtain the information of ow eld. The
calculated data along the centerline of vehicular plume
were compared with the measured data in order to
Fig. 14. Concentration distributions of NO and NO
2
at the
radial distance of 0.3 m under the dierent wind speeds, U
w
(vehicular exhaust exit velocity, U
e
6 ms
1
).
Fig. 15. The radial concentration distributions of NO and NO
2
at the downstream distance of 1 m under the dierent wind
speeds, U
w
(vehicular exhaust exit velocity, U
e
6 ms
1
).
Fig. 16. The radial concentration distributions of NO and NO
2
at the downstream distance of 5 m under the dierent wind
speeds, U
w
(vehicular exhaust exit velocity, U
e
6 ms
1
).
T.L. Chan et al. / Atmospheric Environment 35 (2001) 61176127 6125
validate the developed numerical model. The good
agreement between the calculated and measured data
indicates that the joint-scalar PDF approach can be used
to solve the initial pollutant distribution emitted from
the vehicular exhaust tailpipe. After that, nine sensitivity
cases were also performed to investigate the eects of
dierent exhaust exit velocities and wind speeds on the
initial dispersion of NO and NO
2
from a vehicular
exhaust plume. Although the curves of NO and NO
2
concentrations might not smooth enough as shown in
Figs. 916, they are mainly due to the stochastic nature
of Monte Carlo approach. The results show that the
nitrogen oxides concentrations decreased in the center-
line of exhaust plume along with the downstream
distance for all cases studied. They also show that the
dispersion process can be promoted when the vehicular
exhaust exit velocity is high and the wind speed is small.
On the other hand, the eect of chemical reaction plays
an important role when the exhaust exit velocity is small
or wind speed is high. It leads to the chemical reduction
of NO, and the formation and accumulation of NO
2
in
the vehicular exhaust plume. At the vicinity of the
exhaust tailpipe exit, the eect of exhaust induced
turbulence is more signicant than the eect of wind
turbulence on the dispersion of nitrogen oxides. Along
with the development of the vehicular exhaust plume,
the wind turbulence gradually plays a signicant role for
the dispersion of nitrogen oxides. The range of disper-
sion of nitrogen oxides in the radial direction is
increased along with the development of exhaust plume.
It is concluded that the joint-scalar PDF approach and
Monte Carlo method are shown to be useful for
predicting the initial dispersion of exhaust pollutants
for a typical vehicular exhaust plume.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank The Hong Kong
Polytechnic University for the nancial support (Project
Nos. G-V914, G-YC65 and 143-B1-9719) towards this
work.
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