Contaminant Dispersion In and Around a Sports Stadium - High Fidelity Simulations and Comparisons with Magnetic Resonance Measurements

The intentional or accidental release of a contaminant in an urban environment has the potential to be harmful to a large population. However, predicting the dynamics of the contaminant plume is complicated due to the complex geometry of the urban buildings. Many studies have been performed that provide velocity and concentration data at a few discrete points within the complex flow. This work leverages a rich three-dimensional measurement taken with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The experiment was conducted on a scaled model of a sports stadium within a water tunnel and provided contaminant concentration and three components of velocity. The contaminant was released within the stadium to assess the impact of interactions between the internal and external flow fields via several ventilation features, including a roof opening, roof slits, and entrance and egress tunnels. This dataset is compared with LES simulations performed with the same geometry and boundary conditions. The LES simulations further investigate the influence of the wind direction and temporal nature of a contaminate plume in this complex geometry.