Pollution levels are an increasing concern for the respiratory health of those living and working in cities. Wind tunnel simulations play an important role in modelling pollutant dispersion to better understand flow patterns in urban environments.

This research seeks to identify a correlation between surface pressure and pollutant concentration in wind tunnel simulations carried out with a highly instrumented model building, the Smart Cube, in the University of Surrey’s Environmental Flow wind tunnel. A correlation is expected as the Transport equation and Bernoulli’s equation link concentration and pressure to velocity respectively.

Pollutant concentration is a difficult and expensive quantity to measure; on the other hand, measuring surface pressure is an inexpensive, non-intrusive, and well-established technique. If information about concentration fields can be inferred from pressure measurements, dispersion studies can be significantly simplified, and capability extended.

A dynamic pressure calibration technique is developed to enable instantaneous and simultaneous pressure and concentration measurements. With this capability, correlations both in time and space can be explored.

The Smart Cube model is validated by comparing mean pressure measurements to published data. Instantaneous pressure fluctuations reveal bluff body flow structures and variations of lateral friction velocity in time are evaluated to reveal a bimodal flow pattern around the Smart Cube in a staggered array, approximating an urban morphology.

When an upstream pollutant source is introduced to the experimental setup, a correlation between surface pressure and concentration, measured with a Fast Flame Ionisation Detector adjacent to the cube, is identified in certain conditions. Information about the concentration field is inferred from pressure measurements when the instantaneous concentration is conditionally sampled based on the instantaneous differential pressure, revealing a meandering plume.

The results of this research show valuable information of well-resolved bluff body flow patterns from surface pressure measurements in space and time. Both pressure fluctuation and concentration correlation results are valuable for experimental, numerical and fieldwork applications.