scholarly journals Modelling turbulent boundary layer flow over fractal-like multiscale terrain using large-eddy simulations and analytical tools

Author(s):  
X. I. A. Yang ◽  
C. Meneveau

In recent years, there has been growing interest in large-eddy simulation (LES) modelling of atmospheric boundary layers interacting with arrays of wind turbines on complex terrain. However, such terrain typically contains geometric features and roughness elements reaching down to small scales that typically cannot be resolved numerically. Thus subgrid-scale models for the unresolved features of the bottom roughness are needed for LES. Such knowledge is also required to model the effects of the ground surface ‘underneath’ a wind farm. Here we adapt a dynamic approach to determine subgrid-scale roughness parametrizations and apply it for the case of rough surfaces composed of cuboidal elements with broad size distributions, containing many scales. We first investigate the flow response to ground roughness of a few scales. LES with the dynamic roughness model which accounts for the drag of unresolved roughness is shown to provide resolution-independent results for the mean velocity distribution. Moreover, we develop an analytical roughness model that accounts for the sheltering effects of large-scale on small-scale roughness elements. Taking into account the shading effect, constraints from fundamental conservation laws, and assumptions of geometric self-similarity, the analytical roughness model is shown to provide analytical predictions that agree well with roughness parameters determined from LES. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Wind energy in complex terrains’.

2010 ◽  
Vol 661 ◽  
pp. 341-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. CHUNG ◽  
B. J. McKEON

We investigate statistics of large-scale structures from large-eddy simulation (LES) of turbulent channel flow at friction Reynolds numbers Reτ = 2K and 200K (where K denotes 1000). In order to capture the behaviour of large-scale structures properly, the channel length is chosen to be 96 times the channel half-height. In agreement with experiments, these large-scale structures are found to give rise to an apparent amplitude modulation of the underlying small-scale fluctuations. This effect is explained in terms of the phase relationship between the large- and small-scale activity. The shape of the dominant large-scale structure is investigated by conditional averages based on the large-scale velocity, determined using a filter width equal to the channel half-height. The conditioned field demonstrates coherence on a scale of several times the filter width, and the small-scale–large-scale relative phase difference increases away from the wall, passing through π/2 in the overlap region of the mean velocity before approaching π further from the wall. We also found that, near the wall, the convection velocity of the large scales departs slightly, but unequivocally, from the mean velocity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (7) ◽  
pp. 1955-1973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Hoffmann ◽  
Graham Feingold

Abstract The entrainment and mixing of free-tropospheric air is an essential component of the observed microphysical structure of stratocumulus clouds. Since the relevant scales involved in this process are usually smaller than the grid spacing of typical large-eddy simulations (LESs), their correct representation is difficult. To adequately accommodate these small-scale processes, we apply a recently developed approach that explicitly simulates LES subgrid-scale (SGS) turbulence fluctuation of supersaturation using the one-dimensional linear eddy model. As a result of reduced numerical diffusion and the ability to explicitly represent the SGS distribution of liquid water and supersaturation, entrainment rates tend to be lower in the new approach compared to simulations without it. Furthermore, cloud holes comprising free-tropospheric air with negligible liquid water are shown to persist longer in the stratocumulus deck. Their mixing with the cloud is shown to be more sensitive to the microphysical composition of the cloud as a result of the explicitly resolved inhomogeneous mixing, which is also confirmed analytically. Moreover, inhomogeneous mixing is shown to decrease the droplet concentration and to increase droplet growth significantly, in contrast to previous studies. All in all, the simulations presented can be seen as a first step to bridge the gap between ultra-high-resolution direct numerical simulation and LES, allowing an appropriate representation of small-scale mixing processes, together with the large-scale dynamics of a stratocumulus system.


Author(s):  
Ehsan Kazemi ◽  
Stefan Heinz

AbstractLarge eddy simulation (LES) of the neutrally stratified turbulent Ekman layer is performed. In particular, we compare three LES models with direct numerical simulation (DNS), which was validated against existing DNS. The models considered are a standard nondynamic LES model, the Smagorinsky model (SM), a standard dynamic LES model, the stabilized dynamic Smagorinsky model (DSM), and a new linear dynamic model (LDM), which was derived from a realizable stochastic turbulence model. The following conclusions are obtained. The SM does not represent an appropriate model for the flow considered. Mean velocity and turbulence intensities are poorly predicted. With respect to instantaneous fields, the SM provides a tilting of turbulence structures in the opposite direction as seen in DNS. The stabilized DSM also suffers from significant shortcomings. First, its behavior depends on the wall distance. Close to the wall, it produces acceptable turbulence structures. Away from the wall, it suffers from the same shortcomings as the SM. Second, it incorrectly describes the effect of grid coarsening. The new LDM is free from the disadvantages of the SM and stabilized DSM. Its predictions of both mean and instantaneous velocity fields agree very well with DNS. The relevant conclusion is the following. The use of a dynamic LES method represents a mean for correctly simulating large-scale structures (means and stresses), but it does not ensure a correct simultaneous simulation of small-scale structures. Our results indicate that a dynamic method designed in consistency with a realizable stress model can correctly simulate both large-scale and small-scale structures.


1949 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 451 ◽  
Author(s):  
AA Townsend

Extending previous work on turbulent diffusion in the wake of a circular-cylinder, a series of measurements have been made of the turbulent transport of mean stream momentum, turbulent energy, and heat in the wake of a cylinder of 0.169 cm. diameter, placed in an air-stream of velocity 1280 cm. sec.-1. It has been possible to extend the measurements to 960 diameters down-stream from the cylinder, and it 1s found that, at distances in excess of 600 diameters, the requirements of dynamical similarity are very nearly satisfied. To account for the observed rates of transport of turbulent energy and heat, it is necessary that only part of this transport be due to bulk convection by the slow large-scale motion of the jets of turbulent fluid emitted by the central, fully turbulent core of the wake, which had been supposed previously to perform most of the transport. The remainder of the transport is carried out by the small-scale diffusive motion of the turbulent eddies within the jets, and may be described by assigning diffusion coefficients to the turbulent fluid. It is found that the diffusion coefficients for momentum and heat are approximately equal, but that for turbulent energy is considerably smaller. On the basis of these hypotheses, it is possible to calculate $he form of the mean velocity distribution in good agreement with experiment, and to give a qualitative explanation of the apparently more rapid diffusion of heat.


2018 ◽  
Vol 857 ◽  
pp. 907-936 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Cimarelli ◽  
A. Leonforte ◽  
D. Angeli

The separating and reattaching flows and the wake of a finite rectangular plate are studied by means of direct numerical simulation data. The large amount of information provided by the numerical approach is exploited here to address the multi-scale features of the flow and to assess the self-sustaining mechanisms that form the basis of the main unsteadinesses of the flows. We first analyse the statistically dominant flow structures by means of three-dimensional spatial correlation functions. The developed flow is found to be statistically dominated by quasi-streamwise vortices and streamwise velocity streaks as a result of flow motions induced by hairpin-like structures. On the other hand, the reverse flow within the separated region is found to be characterized by spanwise vortices. We then study the spectral properties of the flow. Given the strongly inhomogeneous nature of the flow, the spectral analysis has been conducted along two selected streamtraces of the mean velocity field. This approach allows us to study the spectral evolution of the flow along its paths. Two well-separated characteristic scales are identified in the near-wall reverse flow and in the leading-edge shear layer. The first is recognized to represent trains of small-scale structures triggering the leading-edge shear layer, whereas the second is found to be related to a very large-scale phenomenon that embraces the entire flow field. A picture of the self-sustaining mechanisms of the flow is then derived. It is shown that very-large-scale fluctuations of the pressure field alternate between promoting and suppressing the reverse flow within the separation region. Driven by these large-scale dynamics, packages of small-scale motions trigger the leading-edge shear layers, which in turn created them, alternating in the top and bottom sides of the rectangular plate with a relatively long period of inversion, thus closing the self-sustaining cycle.


2002 ◽  
Vol 455 ◽  
pp. 195-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIELE CARATI ◽  
MICHAEL M. ROGERS ◽  
ALAN A. WRAY

A statistical ensemble of large-eddy simulations (LES) is run simultaneously for the same flow. The information provided by the different large-scale velocity fields is used in an ensemble-averaged version of the dynamic model. This produces local model parameters that only depend on the statistical properties of the flow. An important property of the ensemble-averaged dynamic procedure is that it does not require any spatial averaging and can thus be used in fully inhomogeneous flows. Also, the ensemble of LES provides statistics of the large-scale velocity that can be used for building new models for the subgrid-scale stress tensor. The ensemble-averaged dynamic procedure has been implemented with various models for three flows: decaying isotropic turbulence, forced isotropic turbulence, and the time-developing plane wake. It is found that the results are almost independent of the number of LES in the statistical ensemble provided that the ensemble contains at least 16 realizations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 869 ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Foti ◽  
Xiaolei Yang ◽  
Lian Shen ◽  
Fotis Sotiropoulos

Wake meandering, a phenomenon of large-scale lateral oscillation of the wake, has significant effects on the velocity deficit and turbulence intensities in wind turbine wakes. Previous studies of a single turbine (Kang et al., J. Fluid. Mech., vol. 774, 2014, pp. 374–403; Foti et al., Phys. Rev. Fluids, vol. 1 (4), 2016, 044407) have shown that the turbine nacelle induces large-scale coherent structures in the near field that can have a significant effect on wake meandering. However, whether nacelle-induced coherent structures at the turbine scale impact the emergent turbine wake dynamics at the wind farm scale is still an open question of both fundamental and practical significance. We take on this question by carrying out large-eddy simulation of atmospheric turbulent flow over the Horns Rev wind farm using actuator surface parameterisations of the turbines without and with the turbine nacelle taken into account. While the computed mean turbine power output and the mean velocity field away from the nacelle wake are similar for both cases, considerable differences are found in the turbine power fluctuations and turbulence intensities. Furthermore, wake meandering amplitude and area defined by wake meanders, which indicates the turbine wake unsteadiness, are larger for the simulations with the turbine nacelle. The wake influenced area computed from the velocity deficit profiles, which describes the spanwise extent of the turbine wakes, and the spanwise growth rate, on the other hand, are smaller for some rows in the simulation with the nacelle model. Our work shows that incorporating the nacelle model in wind farm scale simulations is critical for accurate predictions of quantities that affect the wind farm levelised cost of energy, such as the dynamics of wake meandering and the dynamic loads on downwind turbines.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (03) ◽  
pp. 1950007
Author(s):  
J. R. Wu ◽  
T. F. Gao ◽  
E. C. Shang

In this paper, an analytic range-independent reverberation model based on the first-order perturbation theory is extended to range-dependent waveguide. This model considers the effect of bottom composite roughness: small-scale bottom rough surface provides dominating energy for reverberation, whereas large-scale roughness has the effect of forward and back propagation. For slowly varying bottom and short signal pulse, analytic small-scale roughness backscattering theory is adapted in range-dependent waveguides. A parabolic equation is used to calculate Green functions in range-dependent waveguides, and the orthogonal property of local normal modes is employed to estimate the modal spectrum of PE field. Synthetic tests demonstrate that the proposed reverberation model works well, and it can also predict the reverberation of range-independent waveguide as a special case.


2019 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 02011
Author(s):  
Cristian-Gabriel Alionte ◽  
Daniel-Constantin Comeaga

The importance of renewable energy and especially of eolian systems is growing. For this reason, we propose the investigation of an important pollutant - the noise, which has become so important that European Commission and European Parliament introduced Directive 2002/49/CE relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise. So far, priority has been given to very large-scale systems connected to national energy systems, wind farms whose highly variable output power could be regulated by large power systems. Nowadays, with the development of small storage capacities, it is feasible to install small power wind turbines in cities of up to 10,000 inhabitants too. As a case study, we propose a simulation for a rural locality where individual wind units could be used. This specific case study is interesting because it provides a new perspective of the impact of noise on the quality of life when the use of this type of system is implemented on a large scale. This option, of distributed and small power wind turbine, can be implemented in the future as an alternative or an adding to the common systems.


2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 1013-1027 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. J. Robinson ◽  
S. C. Sherwood

Abstract Simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) cloud-resolving model of deep moist convective events reveal net cooling near the tropopause (∼15–18 km above ground), caused by a combination of large-scale ascent and small-scale cooling by the irreversible mixing of turbulent eddies overshooting their level of neutral buoyancy. The turbulent cooling occurred at all CAPE values investigated (local peak values ranging from 1900 to 3500 J kg−1) and was robust to grid resolution, subgrid-scale turbulence parameterization, horizontal domain size, model dimension, and treatment of ice microphysics. The ratio of the maximum downward heat flux in the tropopause to the maximum tropospheric upward heat flux was close to 0.1. This value was independent of CAPE but was affected by changes in microphysics or subgrid-scale turbulence parameterization. The convective cooling peaked roughly 1 km above the cold point in the background input sounding and the mean cloud- and (turbulent kinetic energy) TKE-top heights, which were all near 16.5 km above ground. It was associated with turbulent entrainment of stratospheric air from as high as 18.25 km into the troposphere. Typical cooling in the experiments was of order 1 K during convective events that produced order 10 mm of precipitation, which implied a significant contribution to the tropopause energy budget. Given the sharp concentration gradients and long residence times near the cold point, even such a small entrainment rate is likely consequential for the transport and ambient distribution of trace gases such as water vapor and ozone, and probably helps to explain the gradual increase of ozone typically observed below the tropical tropopause.


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