Numerical Simulation of Cloud–Clear Air Interfacial Mixing: Effects on Cloud Microphysics

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 3204-3225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslaw Andrejczuk ◽  
Wojciech W. Grabowski ◽  
Szymon P. Malinowski ◽  
Piotr K. Smolarkiewicz

This paper extends the previously published numerical study of Andrejczuk et al. on microscale cloud–clear air mixing. Herein, the primary interest is on microphysical transformations. First, a convergence study is performed—with well-resolved direct numerical simulation of the interfacial mixing in the limit—to optimize the design of a large series of simulations with varying physical parameters. The principal result is that all conclusions drawn from earlier low-resolution (Δx = 10−2 m) simulations are corroborated by the high-resolution (Δx = 0.25 × 10−2 m) calculations, including the development of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and the evolution of microphysical properties. This justifies the use of low resolution in a large set of sensitivity simulations, where microphysical transformations are investigated in response to variations of the initial volume fraction of cloudy air, TKE input, liquid water mixing ratio in cloudy filaments, relative humidity (RH) of clear air, and size of cloud droplets. The simulations demonstrate that regardless of the initial conditions the evolutions of the number of cloud droplets and the mean volume radius follow a universal path dictated by the TKE input, RH of clear air filaments, and the mean size of cloud droplets. The resulting evolution path only weakly depends on the progress of the homogenization. This is an important conclusion because it implies that a relatively simple rule can be developed for representing the droplet-spectrum evolution in cloud models that apply parameterized microphysics. For the low-TKE input, when most of the TKE is generated by droplet evaporation during mixing and homogenization, an inhomogeneous scenario is observed with approximately equal changes in the dimensionless droplet number and mean volume radius cubed. Consistent with elementary scale analysis, higher-TKE inputs, higher RH of cloud-free filaments, and larger cloud droplets enhance the homogeneity of mixing. These results are discussed in the context of observations of entrainment and mixing in natural clouds.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Abade ◽  
Marta Waclawczyk ◽  
Wojciech W. Grabowski ◽  
Hanna Pawlowska

<p>Turbulent clouds are challenging to model and simulate due to uncertainties in microphysical processes occurring at unresolved subgrid scales (SGS). These processes include the transport of cloud particles, supersaturation fluctuations, turbulent mixing, and the resulting stochastic droplet activation and growth by condensation. In this work, we apply two different Lagrangian stochastic schemes to model SGS cloud microphysics. Collision and coalescence of droplets are not considered. Cloud droplets and unactivated cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) are described by Lagrangian particles (superdroplets). The first microphysical scheme directly models the supersaturation fluctuations experienced by each Lagrangian superdroplet as it moves with the air flow. Supersaturation fluctuations are driven by turbulent fluctuations of the droplet vertical velocity through the adiabatic cooling/warming effect. The second, more elaborate scheme uses both temperature and vapor mixing ratio as stochastic attributes attached to each superdroplet. It is based on the probability density function formalism that provides a consistent Eulerian-Lagrangian formulation of scalar transport in a turbulent flow. Both stochastic microphysical schemes are tested in a synthetic turbulent-like cloud flow that mimics a stratocumulus topped boundary layer. It is shown that SGS turbulence plays a key role in broadening the droplet-size distribution towards larger sizes. Also, the feedback on water vapor of stochastically activated droplets buffers the variations of the mean supersaturation driven the resolved transport. This extends the distance over which entrained CNN are activated inside the cloud layer and produces multimodal droplet-size distributions.</p>


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Dziekan ◽  
Hanna Pawlowska

Abstract. Stochasticity in collisional growth of cloud droplets is studied in a box model using the super-droplet method (SDM). The SDM is compared with direct numerical simulations and the master equation. We use the SDM to study fluctuations in autoconversion time and the sol-gel transition. We determine how many computational droplets are necessary to correctly model expected number and standard deviation of autoconversion time. Also, growth rate of lucky droplets is determined and compared with a theoretical prediction. Size of the coalescence cell is found to strongly affect system behavior. In small cells, correlations in droplet sizes and droplet depletion affect evolution of the system. In large cells, unrealistic collisions between rain drops, caused by the assumption that the cell is well-mixed, become important. Maximal size of a volume that is turbulently well-mixed with respect to coalescence is estimated at Vmix = 1.05 · 10−2 cm3. It is argued that larger cells can be considered approximately well-mixed, but only through comparison with fine-grid simulations. In addition, validity of the Smoluchowski equation is tested. Discrepancy between the SDM and the Smoluchowski equation is observed if droplets are initially relatively small. This implies that cloud models that use the Smoluchowski equation might produce rain too soon.


2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (18) ◽  
pp. 4664-4682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech W. Grabowski

Abstract This paper discusses a cloud-resolving modeling study concerning the impact of warm-rain microphysics on convective–radiative quasi equilibrium with fixed surface characteristics and prescribed solar input, both mimicking the mean conditions on earth. Two limits of the concentration of cloud droplets, either 100 cm−3 (referred to as “pristine”) or 1000 cm−3 (referred to as “polluted”), are considered. In addition, three formulations of the effective radius of water droplets in diluted cloudy volumes are used, corresponding to the homogeneous, intermediate, and extremely inhomogeneous mixing scenarios. The assumed concentration of cloud droplets, together with the assumed mixing scenario, affects the local value of the effective radius of cloud droplets (the first indirect aerosol effect, also known as the Twomey effect) and the transfer of cloud water into drizzle and rain, which can affect the mean cloudiness and the hydrologic cycle (the second indirect effect). The convective–radiative quasi equilibrium mimics the estimates of globally and annually averaged water and energy fluxes across the earth’s atmosphere to within less than 10 W m−2. As on earth, the model cloudiness is dominated by shallow convection. It is found that the impact of warm microphysics is dominated by the first indirect effect, whereas the second indirect effect has a smaller impact. The assumed droplet concentration and mixing scenario impact the mean “planetary” albedo and, thus, the amount of solar energy reaching the surface, with all other components of atmospheric energy and water budgets virtually the same in all simulations. The weak second indirect effect highlights the difference between the impact of cloud microphysics on a single cloud and the impact on an ensemble of clouds, with only the latter including the feedbacks between clouds and their environment. The formulation of the effective radius in the diluted cloudy volumes turns out to be of critical importance, with the amount of solar energy reaching the surface being the same in the pristine case assuming the homogeneous mixing scenario and in the polluted case with the extremely inhomogeneous mixing. This result emphasizes the essential role of poorly understood microphysical transformations within diluted convective clouds, which strongly impact the magnitude of the first indirect (Twomey) effect. Implications for future research in this area are discussed.


1991 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 327-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Høgh Jensen ◽  
J. C. Refsgaard

A numerical analysis of solute transport in two spatially heterogeneous fields is carried out assuming that the fields are composed of ensembles of one-dimensional non-interacting soil columns, each column representing a possible soil profile in statistical terms. The basis for the analysis is the flow simulation described in Part II (Jensen and Refsgaard, this issue), which serves as input to a transport model based on the convection-dispersion equation. The simulations of the average and variation in solute concentration in planes perpendicular to the flow direction are compared to measurements obtained from tracer experiments carried out at the two fields. Due to the limited amount of measurement data, it is difficult to draw conclusive evidence of the simulations, but reliable simulations are obtained of the mean behaviour within the two fields. The concept of equivalent soil properties is also tested for the transport problem in heterogeneous soils. Based on effective parameters for the retention and hydraulic conductivity functions it is possible to predict the mean transport in the two experimental fields.


2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (11) ◽  
pp. 4031-4047 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yign Noh ◽  
Donggun Oh ◽  
Fabian Hoffmann ◽  
Siegfried Raasch

Abstract Cloud microphysics parameterizations for shallow cumulus clouds are analyzed based on Lagrangian cloud model (LCM) data, focusing on autoconversion and accretion. The autoconversion and accretion rates, A and C, respectively, are calculated directly by capturing the moment of the conversion of individual Lagrangian droplets from cloud droplets to raindrops, and it results in the reproduction of the formulas of A and C for the first time. Comparison with various parameterizations reveals the closest agreement with Tripoli and Cotton, such as and , where and are the mixing ratio and the number concentration of cloud droplets, is the mixing ratio of raindrops, is the threshold volume radius, and H is the Heaviside function. Furthermore, it is found that increases linearly with the dissipation rate and the standard deviation of radius and that decreases rapidly with while disappearing at > 3.5 μm. The LCM also reveals that and increase with time during the period of autoconversion, which helps to suppress the early precipitation by reducing A with smaller and larger in the initial stage. Finally, is found to be affected by the accumulated collisional growth, which determines the drop size distribution.


2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (17n18) ◽  
pp. 2345-2351 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. CEBERS

The phase diagram of the magnetorheological suspension allowing for the modulated phases in the Hele-Shaw cell under the action of the normal field is calculated. The phase boundaries between the stripe, the hexagonal and the unmodulated phases in dependence on the layer thickness and the magnetic field strength are found. The existence of the transitions between the stripe and the hexagonal phases at the corresponding variation of the physical parameters is illustrated by the numerical simulation of the concentration dynamics in the Hele-Shaw cell. It is remarked that those transitions in the case of the magnetorheological suspensions can be caused by the compression or the expansion of the layer. Among the features noticed at the numerical simulation of the concentration dynamics in the Hele-Shaw cell are: the stripe patterns formed from the preexisting hexagonal structures are more ordered than arising from the initial randomly perturbed state; at the slightly perturbed boundary between the concentrated and diluted phases the hexagonal and the inverted hexagonal phases are formed and others.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1008-1009 ◽  
pp. 850-860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhou Wei Zhang ◽  
Jia Xing Xue ◽  
Ya Hong Wang

A calculation method for counter-current type coil-wound heat exchanger is presented for heat exchange process. The numerical simulation method is applied to determine the basic physical parameters of wound bundles. By controlling the inlet fluid velocity varying in coil-wound heat exchanger to program and calculate the iterative process. The calculation data is analyzed by comparison of numerical result and the unit three dimensional pipe bundle model was built. Studies show that the introduction of numerical simulation can simplify the pipe winding process and accelerate the calculation and design of overall configuration in coil-wound heat exchanger. This method can be applied to the physical modeling and heat transfer calculation of pipe bundles in coil wound heat exchanger, program to calculate the complex heat transfer changing with velocity and other parameters, and optimize the overall design and calculation of spiral bundles.


Author(s):  
P. Fede ◽  
O. Simonin ◽  
I. Ghouila

Three dimensional unsteady numerical simulations of dense pressurized polydisperse fluidized bed have been carried out. The geometry is a medium-scale industrial pilot for ethylene polymerization. The numerical simulation have been performed with a polydisperse collision model. The consistency of the polydisperse model predictions with the monodisperse ones is shown. The results show that the pressure distribution and the mean vertical gas velocity are not modified by polydispersion of the solid phase. In contrast, the solid particle species are not identically distributed in the fluidized bed indicating the presence of particle segregation.


Author(s):  
M. Azeredo ◽  
◽  
V. Priimenko ◽  

This work presents a mathematical algorithm for modeling the propagation of poroelastic waves. We have shown how the classical Biot equations can be put into Ursin’s form in a plane-layered 3D porous medium. Using this form, we have derived explicit for- mulas that can be used as the basis of an efficient computational algorithm. To validate the algorithm, numerical simulations were performed using both the poroelastic and equivalent elastic models. The results obtained confirmed the proposed algorithm’s reliability, identify- ing the main wave events in both low-frequency and high-frequency regimes in the reservoir and laboratory scales, respectively. We have also illustrated the influence of some physical parameters on the attenuation and dispersion of the slow wave.


2004 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 463-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Laffon ◽  
Christophe Vallet ◽  
Virginie Bernard ◽  
Michel Montaudon ◽  
Dominique Ducassou ◽  
...  

The present method enables the noninvasive assessment of mean pulmonary arterial pressure from magnetic resonance phase mapping by computing both physical and biophysical parameters. The physical parameters include the mean blood flow velocity over the cross-sectional area of the main pulmonary artery (MPA) at the systolic peak and the maximal systolic MPA cross-sectional area value, whereas the biophysical parameters are related to each patient, such as height, weight, and heart rate. These parameters have been measured in a series of 31 patients undergoing right-side heart catheterization, and the computed mean pulmonary arterial pressure value (PpaComp) has been compared with the mean pressure value obtained from catheterization (PpaCat) in each patient. A significant correlation was found that did not differ from the identity line PpaComp = PpaCat ( r = 0.92). The mean and maximal absolute differences between PpaComp and PpaCat were 5.4 and 11.9 mmHg, respectively. The method was also applied to compute the MPA systolic and diastolic pressures in the same patient series. We conclude that this computed method, which combines physical (whoever the patient) and biophysical parameters (related to each patient), improves the accuracy of MRI to noninvasively estimate pulmonary arterial pressures.


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