Eliminating particulate matter from underground car parks in the city center of Eindhoven can result in local reductions in the concentration of these particles of up to 50%. Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) came to this conclusion on the basis of air flow models and computer simulations of the city center. The simulations prove the effectiveness of an initiative by the environmental innovation company ENS Technology to use underground car parks as air purification sites, or 'lungs of the city.'

Under the supervision of Professor of Building Physics Bert Blocken, the Eindhoven researchers made a very detailed computational grid of the city center of Eindhoven. This grid covered an area of 5.1 square kilometers and included 16 underground car parks. The effect on the concentration of particulate matter in the city center air was simulated, following the reduction of the particles inside the underground car parks by a total of 99 or 594 air purification systems.

Read the full story at phys.org.