Testing of the QUIC-PLUME model with wind-tunnel measurements for a highrise building

A fast running, urban atmospheric plume transport and dispersion model is needed for many aspects of preparation, training, assessment, and response in case of a terrorist CB incident in a city. We are developing the QUIC (Quick Urban & Industrial Complex) system to meet these needs. The dispersion model, QUIC-PLUME, has been based on a non-standard version of the Lagrangian random-walk equations that allows it to account for horizontally inhomogeneous turbulence found in built-up areas. QUIC-PLUME has been revised to provide a better treatment of non-local mixing, and the turbulence induced by non-zero vertical winds or wind speed gradients in the horizontal plane. We have compared the model to wind tunnel experimental data for a release downwind from a highrise building. The model does a good job of describing measured concentrations on the back wall of the building and along the downwind axis of the building. For example, over 75% of the simulated , down-axis concentrations are within a factor of two of the measured concentrations at the same point. The vast bulk of the simulations that are not within a factor of two of the measurements are at very low concentrations where the statistical fluctuations are large.