DAPPLE: Dispersion of air pollution and penetration into the local environment

This project ran from 2002 to 2010 and brought together multidisciplinary expertise from six universities capable of undertaking urban fieldwork (Marylebone Road field site), wind tunnel and computational simulations in order to provide a better understanding of the physical processes affecting street and neighbourhood scale air flow and pollutant or contaminant dispersion, with a particular emphasis on individual exposure and source-receptor relationships.

In all, DAPPLE ran for nine years and clearly established the team involved as the only group in the UK experienced in conducting large-scale urban dispersion experiments. The projects were led by Professor Robins here at the University.

DAPPLE was EPSRC funded from 2002 to 2006 and concentrated on traffic pollutants. Home Office funding then followed from 2006 to 2010, when the emphasis shifted from the earlier concerns to the short range dispersion of hazardous, gaseous material, primarily addressing potential terrorist activities in London or similar urban conditions.