The Brooklyn traffic real-time ambient pollutant penetration and environmental dispersion (B-TRAPPED) field study methodology

The Brooklyn Traffic Real-Time Ambient Pollutant Penetration and Environmental Dispersion (B-TRAPPED) field study examined indoor and outdoor exposure to traffic-generated air pollution by studying the individual processes of generation of traffic emissions, transport and dispersion of air contaminants along a roadway, and infiltration of the contaminants into a residence. Real-time instrumentation was used to obtain highly resolved time-series concentration profiles for a number of air pollutants. The B-TRAPPED field study was conducted in the residential Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, USA, in May 2005. The neighborhood contained the Gowanus Expressway (Interstate 278), a major arterial road (4(th) Avenue), and residential side streets running perpendicular to the Gowanus Expressway and 4(th) Avenue. Synchronized measurements were obtained inside a test house, just outside the test house façade, and along the urban residential street canyon on which the house was located. A trailer containing Federal Reference Method (FRM) and real-time monitors was located next to the Gowanus Expressway to assess the source. Ultrafine particulate matter (PM), PM(2.5), nitrogen oxides (NO(x)), sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO(2)), temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed and direction were monitored. Different sampling schemes were devised to focus on dispersion along the street canyon or infiltration into the test house. Results were obtained for ultrafine PM, PM(2.5), criteria gases, and wind conditions from sampling schemes focused on street canyon dispersion and infiltration. For comparison, the ultrafine PM and PM(2.5) results were compared with an existing data set from the Los Angeles area, and the criteria gas data were compared with measurements from a Vancouver epidemiologic study. Measured ultrafine PM and PM(2.5) concentration levels along the residential urban street canyon and at the test house façade in Sunset Park were demonstrated to be comparable to traffic levels at an arterial road and slightly higher than those in a residential area of Los Angeles. Indoor ultrafine PM levels were roughly 3-10 times lower than outdoor levels, depending on the monitor location. CO, NO(2), and SO(2) levels were shown to be similar to values that produced increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease hospitalizations in the Vancouver studies.

Analysis of indoor air pollution trends and characterization of infiltration delay time using a cross-correlation method

High-density housing in close proximity to freeways in conjunction with high concentrations of traffic emissions may contribute to significant degradation of indoor air quality. Densely populated areas may also be targeted for intentional releases of biological or chemical agents because an urban release could result in higher morbidity and mortality from the attack. Since people tend to spend the majority of their time indoors, it is paramount to explore the relationships between outdoor and indoor air quality and, specifically, the time scales that characterize transport of airborne contaminants from outdoors to indoors. In the Brooklyn Traffic Real-Time Ambient Pollutant Penetration and Environmental Dispersion (B-TRAPPED) study, a three-story row house with a flat face and roof and multiple rooms was used to investigate outdoor-to-indoor contaminant time scales. The building was located in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, USA, in the vicinity of a major expressway and a heavily trafficked arterial road. It was found that the building shell has a profound impact on the indoor concentrations. A strong hourly periodicity (see Eisner et al., this issue, DOI: 10.1039/b907132f) in concentration outside the building during the morning "rush hour" was used as evidence to suggest that indoor contaminants originated from outdoor air penetration. Although the indoor concentrations followed a similar pattern, indoor concentrations were found to be more persistent than outdoor concentrations. Stronger persistency is used here to describe the tendency of the indoor concentration to continue to rise even if the outdoor concentration has started to drop, or vice versa. This may be an important factor in assessing negative health risks to inhabitants or first responders. A cross-correlation technique was employed to study the correlation between outdoor and indoor time series. In the high-density housing residential building used in the study, it was found that a long lag time exists (11 min) before indoor and outdoor concentrations reach maximal correlation.

Transport of airborne particles within a room

The objective of this study is to test a technique used to analyze contaminant transport in the wake of a bluff body under controlled experimental conditions for application to aerosol transport in a complex furnished room. Specifically, the hypothesis tested by our work is that the dispersion of contaminants in a room is related to the turbulence kinetic energy and length scale. This turbulence is, in turn, determined by the size and shape of furnishings within the room and by the ventilation characteristics. This approach was tested for indoor dispersion through computational fluid dynamics simulations and laboratory experiments. In each, 3 mum aerosols were released in a furnished room with varied contaminant release locations (at the inlet vent or under a desk). The realizable k approximately epsilon model was employed in the simulations, followed by a Lagrangian particle trajectory simulation used as input for an in-house FORTRAN code to compute aerosol concentration. For the experiments, concentrations were measured simultaneously at seven locations by laser photometry, and air velocity was measured using laser Doppler velocimetry. The results suggest that turbulent diffusion is a significant factor in contaminant residence time in a furnished room. This procedure was then expanded to develop a simplified correlation between contaminant residence time and the number of enclosing surfaces around a point containing the contaminant. Practical Implications The work presented here provides a methodology for relating local aerosol residence time to properties of room ventilation and furniture arrangement. This technique may be used to assess probable locations of high concentration by knowing only the particle release location, furniture configuration, inlet and outlet locations, and air speeds, which are all observable features. Applications of this method include development of 'rules of thumb' for first responders entering a room where an agent has been released and selection of sampler locations to monitor conditions in sensitive areas.

A Flow Visualization Study of Spore Release Using a Wind Tunnel-Mounted Laser Light Sheet

A phase Doppler anemometry system in combination with a laser light sheet was used in a low-speed recirculating wind tunnel to examine the flow field around an individual leaf. Turbulence similar to that encountered near the surface of the earth in a neutral stability boundary layer was generated using a grid at the upwind end of the wind tunnel test section. Individual healthy and diseased plant leaves were introduced into the tunnel with the leaf tip pointing downwind. The Mie-scattered radiation from the spores departing the diseased leaf was captured on videotape. Image processing software was used to enhance the visual quality of the individual frames from the videotape and to make spore velocity calculations. Three main vortex regions around the leaf were identified. The importance of these regions to the separation of the spores from the leaf surface and their subsequent downwind movement was analyzed.

Design and development of a micro-thermocouple sensor for determining temperature and relative humidity patterns within an airstream

This paper describes the production and calibration of a miniature psychrometer treated with a specially developed porous coating. The investigation was conducted to determine localized patterns of rapidly changing temperature and relative humidity in dynamic flowing gas environments (e.g., with particular attention to future applications to the human respiratory system). The technique involved the use of dry miniature thermocouples and wetted miniature thermocouples coated with boron nitride to act as a wicking material. A precision humidity generator was developed for calibrating the psychrometer. It was found that, in most cases, the measured and expected (i.e., theoretically predicted) relative humidity agreed to within 0.5 to 1.0 percent relative humidity. Procedures that would decrease this discrepancy even further were pinpointed, and advantages of using the miniature psychrometer were assessed.