Development of local-scale high-resolution atmospheric dispersion model using large-eddy simulation. Part 4: turbulent flows and plume dispersion in an actual urban area

We have developed a local-scale high-resolution atmospheric dispersion model using large-eddy simulation (LOHDIM-LES) to assess the safety at nuclear facilities and to respond to emergency situations resulting from accidental or deliberate releases of radioactive materials (e.g., a terrorist attack in an urban area). In Part 1, the unsteady behavior of a plume dispersing over a flat terrain was successfully simulated. In Parts 2 and 3, LESs of turbulent flows and plume dispersion around an isolated building and in building arrays with different obstacle densities were performed, which showed the basic performance comparable to wind tunnel experimental technique. In this study, we apply the LES model to turbulent flows and plume dispersion in an actual urban area. Although some of the turbulence and dispersion characteristics are quantitatively different from the wind tunnel experimental data, the distribution patterns are generally similar to those of the experiments. It is concluded that our LES model simulates reasonably the unsteady behavior of turbulent flows and plume dispersion even for complex heterogeneous urban areas.