An application of ventilation efficiency concepts to the analysis of building density effects on urban flow and pollutant concentration

This paper is devoted to the study of flow and pollutant dispersion within different urban configurations by means of wind tunnel experiments and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The influence of the building packing density was evaluated in terms of ventilation efficiency. We found that air entering the array through the lateral sides and that leaving through the street roofs increased and the lateral spread of the pollutant released from a ground level line source decreased with increasing packing density. Ventilation efficiency concepts developed for indoor environments appear a promising tool for evaluating the urban air quality as well.