An urban air pollution model

Lyons, T.J. and Moy, C. (1998) An urban air pollution model. In: Brebbia, C.A., Power, H. and Ratto, C., (eds.) Air Pollution VI. Computational Mechanics Publications, Southampton, pp. 377-385.

Abstract

Analysis of cities across the globe illustrates a strong relationship between VKT (vehicle kilometres of travel) and urbanised area. As VKT can be used as a surrogate for vehicular emissions, this provides a method of es- timating urban vehicular pollution. These emission rates are incorporated with simple meteorological forcing into a box model to provide a generalised urban air pollution model for any city. 1 Introduction Urban air pollution has evolved into a significant worldwide problem with many urban areas attaining levels above the World Health Or- ganisation (WHO) guidelines (Faiz, 1993). Motor vehicular transport is a primary cause of this declining air quality and the significance of motor vehicle use is increasing in many urban areas (Anderson et al., 1996) through rising traffic volumes (Kirby, 1995).