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Farnborough Branch
Lecture
Contact for further information: Dr Mike Philpot – [email protected]
Tuesday, 12 June 2012 at 7.30pm
BAE Systems, Infor House, Farnborough
Wind and the City –
Dispersal of Atmospheric Pollutants
Professor Alan Robins, University of Surrey
The concentration of population in large cities drives the need to manage local air quality and provide
adequate systems for emergency response, in this case to hazardous materials released accidentally or
deliberately into the urban atmosphere. From 2002 to 2010, the area around Marylebone Road in
central London was used as a field site by a consortium of universities, led by the University of Surrey, to
learn more of physical processes affecting these matters. The lecture will begin with a summary of the
objectives of this project and then go on to describe the techniques used, some of the interesting
observations that resulted and their relevance to emergency response. Work at the University of Surrey
involved the use of its ‘meteorological’ wind tunnel – a facility specifically designed to simulate conditions
in the lower part of the atmospheric boundary layer. The principles on which this wind tunnel was
designed will be outlined and its operation described. The lecture will conclude with illustrations of some
of the other work for which the wind tunnel is used.
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Professor Robins graduated in Aeronautics from Imperial College in 1965, following which he undertook
post-graduate research leading to a PhD. On leaving Imperial in 1969, he joined the CEGB Research
Laboratory in Leatherhead to work on what is now termed Wind Engineering. He moved to the
University of Surrey in 1993, to work in the newly formed Environmental Flow Research Centre (EnFlo).
EnFlo’s purpose is to provide a UK focus for research based on laboratory scale simulation of
atmospheric flow and pollutant dispersion. In 1997 Alan was appointed to the Royal Academy of
Engineering Chair in Environmental Fluid Dynamics at the University and took up his current post of
Professor of Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Director of EnFlo in 2001. In addition, he has
reconnected with his aeronautical background, by teaching incompressible and compressible
aerodynamics to Level 3 students.
Complimentary coffee will be available from 7.0pm
£1 entry fee for non-members. RAeS members, Farnborough Branch ‘Friends’ and students: free.
Change of venue for Lecture, 12 June 2012
The Park Centre Presentation Suite is closed during May and June for refurbishment. This
meeting will therefore take place in the 1st floor conference room in Infor House, just across the
main approach road from the Park Centre. There is a large car park beyond the building, as
can be seen from the aerial photograph below. Alternatively, parking will still be possible at the
Park Centre, from where it is only 2 or 3 minutes walk to Infor House.
Complimentary coffee will be available from 7.0pm
£1 entry fee for non-members. RAeS members, Farnborough Branch ‘Friends’ and students: free.