A FRAMEWORK FOR FINE-SCALE

COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS

AIR QUALITY MODELING AND ANALYSIS
Alan H Huber
Physical Scientist; PhD, QEP
NOAA, ASMD, in partnership with the US EPA,
National Exposure Research Laboratory, RTP, NC, USA
THE 5TH ANNUAL CMAS CONFERENCE, Chapel Hill, NC
October 18, 2006

What is Computational Fluid Dynamics

(CFD)?
Computational (having to do with mathematics & computation)
Fluid Dynamics (the dynamics of things that flow)
CFD is built upon fundamental physics equations: equations
of motion and conservation. CFD applications range from
numerical weather prediction to vehicular aerodynamics design.
CFD applications are linked with advances in computing
software and hardware. CFD software is characterized by the
physical models in the software.
Fine-scale CFD applications closely match the true geometry
of the physical objects and processes being modeled.

Brief Background
before electronic computers

Philosophical Interests in Fluid Flow

Newtons Physical Equations (1686)
Navier-Stokes Equations (1823)
V. Bjerknes Notions of Numerical
Weather Prediction (1904)
L.F. Richardson First Numerical
Weather Prediction (1922)

Brief Background
with electronic computers
:Progression to Air Quality Modeling
First Electronic Computers (1940s)
J. Charney First Computer Numerical
Weather Prediction (April 1950)
Numerical Modeling of Air Quality
Promoted by US EPA in 1970s and 1980s
CMAQ Evolves in the 1990s to Present
CMAQ Continues to Evolve with Advancing
Computation Hardware and Software

Challenge to Relate to
Human Exposure Assessment
Four Questions Modeling
Should Help Answer

How many people are exposed ?

What is the level of each persons exposure?
What are the causes of exposure?
How can exposures be altered efficiently?

Total Exposure Concentrations =

Local Sources + Regional Background

Urban Exposures: Beyond the Lamp Post

Roadway Exposures:
Within the Roadway or Neighborhood
Microenvironments

Human Exposure
A human is only exposed to what can
possibly contact his body.
Air quality concentrations need to be
linked to temporal and spatial scales
associated with profiles of human
exposure relevant to supporting health
risk assessments

Making Fine-Scale CFD

Application Routine
Computational resources. Today, industrial complexes
can be practically modeled by most workstations, while
complex urban areas can only be modeled by the cluster
systems.
Develop best-practice methods.
CFD codes have many options.
Develop user-friendly interfaces for general application.
Air quality modelers should be able to run routine
applications.
Interface CFD software with other models.

Support/Collaborators

Wei Tang: National Research Council Post Doc

with EPA, 2003-2005 (2.5 years)
Matt Freeman, Richard Spencer: EPA Scientific Visualization Center
under EPA contract with Lockheed-Martin
Karl Kuehlert, Brian Bell, Walter Schwarz: EPA Cooperative Research
and Development Agreement with Fluent, Inc

Michael Lazaro: EPA Memorandum of Cooperation with

Argonne National Laboratory
Department of Homeland Security: New York City Urban Dispersion
Program

Army Research Laboratory MSRC Visualization

and Supercomputing Facility

Application of
Fine-scale CFD Models
Develop databases to complement the
dearth of exposure measurements.
Support the development of Human
Exposure Factors.
Support the development of subgrid
parameterization for CMAQ.
Interface with CMAQ

Present CMAQ
Multi-scale Multi-pollutant
Various Chemical and Physical
Processes
Common Linkage of Meteorology,
Emissions, and Air Quality
Regional Applications > 10 km grid
Urban Applications > 1 km grid

Potential for Interfacing CMAQ CFD with

Fine-scale CFD Models
Increasing computational capacities make it
possible to extend CMAQ to spatially fine-scales.
Finer temporal scale may be more difficult.
Interface CMAQ when needed with a separate
fine-scale (subgrid) model.
Pass information between separate CMAQ and
fine-scale model.

Example Fine-scale CFD

Think Inside the Box
A few example solutions follow:
While the example cases do not involve
thermal heating, methods have been
developed for adding heat fluxes to any grid
face or volume.
Motion of objects can be added.
Particle physics can be added.
Chemistry can be added.

Fine-scale CFD Modeling of

Urban Neighborhoods

Example Wind Field

What is the direction of the freestream winds?

Example: Winds from Southwest

Surface Winds and with Plume

Concentration within Building Arrays

Plume Initiated from

Different Point Locations
- but within an Identical Wind Field.

Horizontal Planes
- Vertical Velocity

Area-averaged * Winds
Urban Canopy Parameterization
Wind speed

Wind direction

Upstream Inlet: Blue

Upstream Inlet: Blue

*Area-averaged over same horizontal slice-plane shown in the previous slide.

Automobile
Microenvironments

Modeling Urban Roadways

- Including the Vehicle Effects
Grid Resolution

TKE

Modeling Urban Roadways

- Including the Vehicle Effects
Wind Velocity

Concentration

SUMMARY STATEMENT
CMAQ-like air quality modeling systems may evolve to
support the critical needs for modeling human exposures to
air pollutants.
Continued advances in computing hardware and software
make it possible and increasingly more practical to consider
extending present CMAQ air quality models to increasingly
finer scales.
Fine-scale CFD should be interfaced with CMAQ
Fine-scale CFD should support CMAQ parameterizations
Fine-scale CFD models can also be applied independent of
larger scale grid models to support the development of human
exposure factors and the human exposure profiles that are
dominated by local source emissions.

Disclaimer
The research presented here was performed
under the Memorandum of Understanding
between the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of
Commerce's National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and
under agreement number DW13921548. This
work constitutes a contribution to the NOAA
Air Quality Program. Although it has been
reviewed by EPA and NOAA and approved
for publication, it does not necessarily reflect
their policies or views