Impact of vehicular emissions in an urban area of the Po valley by microscale simulation with the GRAL dispersion model

Abstract

Abstract This work sets out the test of the GRAL model (Graz Lagrangian Model, vs.18.1) in the urban area of Modena (Po valley, Northern Italy). The simulation domain sizes 2 000 x 3 000 m2 and it features ‘microscale’ cells of 4 x 4 m2. The simulation focuses on an intersection featured by large traffic flows next to a school and a regulatory air quality monitoring station classified as an urban traffic site. The model is a lagrangian particle dispersion model and it takes into account the presence of buildings as obstacles and generating microscale wind fields accordingly, making this class of model suitable for investigating spatial pattern of atmospheric pollution in urban areas where local accumulation might occur. The simulation investigates traffic emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) over the period October 29 to November 10, 2016, when direct measurements of traffic flow were collected by four one-channel doppler radar traffic counters. These counters provided continuous estimate of vehicle length, speed and number. These latter data were combined with available traffic flows at rush hour by PTV VISUM mobility software and the fleet composition of the municipality to estimate the total NOx emissions by vehicular traffic over the roads included in the simulation domain. NOx simulated concentrations showed a moderate correlation with the NOx observations at the nearby monitoring site. To have a better insight on the potential and the limitations of the GRAL model, its results will be compared with the output of the lagrangian particle dispersion model PMSS over the same area.