ERIES-Database for Validation of Urban Ventilation and Pollution Dispersion Models

This dataset aims to provide high-quality validation data on pollutant concentrations for studying air pollution dispersion in urban environments. The measurements were conducted for a central area of Sofia, Bulgaria, covering a region with a diameter of approximately 0.91 km. Experiments were performed at the closed-circuit atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel (ABLWT) facility of Eindhoven University of Technology, using a geometric scale of 1:350, resulting in a blockage ratio of less than 5%. Pollutant concentrations were measured at 76 locations distributed throughout the target area for two different point source locations (S1 and S2), at a reduced-scale height of 5 mm. This resulted in two independent datasets representing dispersion from S1 and S2. Pure ethylene was used as a tracer gas, and the release was neutral, not accounting for any buoyancy effects. The tests were conducted for the prevailing wind direction of west-northwest i.e., at 293° with 0° corresponding to true north. The ABL generated represents the flow over rough terrain as per the VDI-3783 guideline. In addition, tests for Reynolds number independence, source strength sensitivity, and multiple repeatability tests were conducted to quantify experimental uncertainty.