scholarly journals Large Eddy Simulation of Microphysics and Influencing Factors in Shallow Convective Clouds

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 485
Author(s):  
Zhuangzhuang Zhou ◽  
Chongzhi Yin ◽  
Chunsong Lu ◽  
Xingcan Jia ◽  
Fang Ye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Eddy Simulation ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Vertical Velocity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Relative Dispersion ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Convective Clouds ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Large Eddy

A flight of shallow convective clouds during the SCMS95 (Small Cumulus Microphysics Study 1995) observation project is simulated by the large eddy simulation (LES) version of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF-LES) with spectral bin microphysics (SBM). This study focuses on relative dispersion of cloud droplet size distributions, since its influencing factors are still unclear. After validation of the simulation by aircraft observations, the factors affecting relative dispersion are analyzed. It is found that the relationships between relative dispersion and vertical velocity, and between relative dispersion and adiabatic fraction are both negative. Furthermore, the negative relationships are relatively weak near the cloud base, strengthen with the increasing height first and then weaken again, which is related to the interplays among activation, condensation and evaporation for different vertical velocity and entrainment conditions. The results will be helpful to improve parameterizations related to relative dispersion (e.g., autoconversion and effective radius) in large-scale models.

scholarly journals Sensitivity of local air quality to the interplay between small- and large-scale circulations: a large-eddy simulation study

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 7261-7276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Wolf-Grosse ◽  
Igor Esau ◽  
Joachim Reuder
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Large Eddy Simulation ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Air Pockets

Abstract. Street-level urban air pollution is a challenging concern for modern urban societies. Pollution dispersion models assume that the concentrations decrease monotonically with raising wind speed. This convenient assumption breaks down when applied to flows with local recirculations such as those found in topographically complex coastal areas. This study looks at a practically important and sufficiently common case of air pollution in a coastal valley city. Here, the observed concentrations are determined by the interaction between large-scale topographically forced and local-scale breeze-like recirculations. Analysis of a long observational dataset in Bergen, Norway, revealed that the most extreme cases of recurring wintertime air pollution episodes were accompanied by increased large-scale wind speeds above the valley. Contrary to the theoretical assumption and intuitive expectations, the maximum NO2 concentrations were not found for the lowest 10 m ERA-Interim wind speeds but in situations with wind speeds of 3 m s−1. To explain this phenomenon, we investigated empirical relationships between the large-scale forcing and the local wind and air quality parameters. We conducted 16 large-eddy simulation (LES) experiments with the Parallelised Large-Eddy Simulation Model (PALM) for atmospheric and oceanic flows. The LES accounted for the realistic relief and coastal configuration as well as for the large-scale forcing and local surface condition heterogeneity in Bergen. They revealed that emerging local breeze-like circulations strongly enhance the urban ventilation and dispersion of the air pollutants in situations with weak large-scale winds. Slightly stronger large-scale winds, however, can counteract these local recirculations, leading to enhanced surface air stagnation. Furthermore, this study looks at the concrete impact of the relative configuration of warmer water bodies in the city and the major transport corridor. We found that a relatively small local water body acted as a barrier for the horizontal transport of air pollutants from the largest street in the valley and along the valley bottom, transporting them vertically instead and hence diluting them. We found that the stable stratification accumulates the street-level pollution from the transport corridor in shallow air pockets near the surface. The polluted air pockets are transported by the local recirculations to other less polluted areas with only slow dilution. This combination of relatively long distance and complex transport paths together with weak dispersion is not sufficiently resolved in classical air pollution models. The findings have important implications for the air quality predictions over urban areas. Any prediction not resolving these, or similar local dynamic features, might not be able to correctly simulate the dispersion of pollutants in cities.

scholarly journals Demistify: a large-eddy simulation (LES) and single-column model (SCM) intercomparison of radiation fog

2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 319-333
Author(s):  
Ian Boutle ◽  
Wayne Angevine ◽  
Jian-Wen Bao ◽  
Thierry Bergot ◽  
Ritthik Bhattacharya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Eddy Simulation ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Droplet Size Distribution ◽  
Radiation Fog ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Cloud Droplet Size Distribution ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Single Column ◽  
Les Model

Abstract. An intercomparison between 10 single-column (SCM) and 5 large-eddy simulation (LES) models is presented for a radiation fog case study inspired by the Local and Non-local Fog Experiment (LANFEX) field campaign. Seven of the SCMs represent single-column equivalents of operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, whilst three are research-grade SCMs designed for fog simulation, and the LESs are designed to reproduce in the best manner currently possible the underlying physical processes governing fog formation. The LES model results are of variable quality and do not provide a consistent baseline against which to compare the NWP models, particularly under high aerosol or cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) conditions. The main SCM bias appears to be toward the overdevelopment of fog, i.e. fog which is too thick, although the inter-model variability is large. In reality there is a subtle balance between water lost to the surface and water condensed into fog, and the ability of a model to accurately simulate this process strongly determines the quality of its forecast. Some NWP SCMs do not represent fundamental components of this process (e.g. cloud droplet sedimentation) and therefore are naturally hampered in their ability to deliver accurate simulations. Finally, we show that modelled fog development is as sensitive to the shape of the cloud droplet size distribution, a rarely studied or modified part of the microphysical parameterisation, as it is to the underlying aerosol or CDNC.

scholarly journals Sticky Thermals: Evidence for a Dominant Balance between Buoyancy and Drag in Cloud Updrafts

2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (8) ◽  
pp. 2890-2901 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Romps ◽  
Alexander B. Charn
Keyword(s):  
Large Eddy Simulation ◽  
Practical Interest ◽  
Momentum Equation ◽  
Severe Weather ◽  
Convective Clouds ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Great Practical Interest ◽  
Natural Boundaries ◽  
Drag Law

Abstract The vertical velocities of convective clouds are of great practical interest because of their influence on many phenomena, including severe weather and stratospheric moistening. However, the magnitudes of forces giving rise to these vertical velocities are poorly understood, and the dominant balance is in dispute. Here, an algorithm is used to extract thousands of cloud thermals from a large-eddy simulation of deep and tropical maritime convection. Using a streamfunction to define natural boundaries for these thermals, the dominant balance in the vertical momentum equation is revealed. Cloud thermals rise with a nearly constant speed determined by their buoyancy and the standard drag law with a drag coefficient of 0.6. Contrary to suggestions that cloud thermals might be slippery, with a dominant balance between buoyancy and acceleration, cloud thermals are found here to be sticky, with a dominant balance between buoyancy and drag.

Comparative Large Eddy Simulation study of a large-scale buoyant fire

2011 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 1197-1208 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. Yeoh ◽  
S. C. P. Cheung ◽  
J. Y. Tu ◽  
T. J. Barber
Keyword(s):  
Large Eddy Simulation ◽  
Simulation Study ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Large Eddy

scholarly journals Large-eddy simulation of ash deposition in a large-scale laboratory furnace

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 4409-4418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min-min Zhou ◽  
John C. Parra-Álvarez ◽  
Philip J. Smith ◽  
Benjamin J. Isaac ◽  
Jeremy N. Thornock ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Eddy Simulation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ash Deposition ◽  
Laboratory Furnace ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Large Eddy

Application of Near Wall Model to Large Eddy Simulation Based on Boundary Layer Approximation

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Takata ◽  
Akira Yamaguchi ◽  
Masaaki Tanaka ◽  
Hiroyuki Ohshima
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Large Eddy Simulation ◽  
Frequency Characteristic ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Plane Channel ◽  
Boundary Layer Approximation ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Turbulent Statistics ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Near Wall

Turbulent statistics near a structural surface, such as a magnitude of temperature fluctuation and its frequency characteristic, play an important role in damage progression due to thermal stress. A Large Eddy Simulation (LES) has an advantage to obtain the turbulent statistics especially in terms of the frequency characteristic. However, it still needs a great number of computational cells near a wall. In the present paper, a two-layer approach based on boundary layer approximation is extended to an energy equation so that a low computational cost is achieved even in a large-scale LES analysis to obtain the near wall turbulent statistics. The numerical examinations are carried out based on a plane channel flow with constant heat generation. The friction Reynolds numbers (Reτ) of 395 and 10,000 are investigated, while the Prandtl number (Pr) is set to 0.71 in each analysis. It is demonstrated that the present method is cost-effective for a large-scale LES analysis.

Large Eddy Simulation of Self-Sustained Cavity Oscillation for Subsonic and Supersonic Flows

2016 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
K. M. Nair ◽  
S. Sarkar
Keyword(s):  
Large Eddy Simulation ◽  
Shear Layer ◽  
Acoustic Waves ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Hydrodynamic Instability ◽  
Supersonic Flows ◽  
Large Scale Structures ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Scale Structures

The primary objective is to perform a large eddy simulation (LES) using shear improved Smagorinsky model (SISM) to resolve the large-scale structures, which are primarily responsible for shear layer oscillations and acoustic loads in a cavity. The unsteady, three-dimensional (3D), compressible Navier–Stokes (N–S) equations have been solved following AUSM+-up algorithm in the finite-volume formulation for subsonic and supersonic flows, where the cavity length-to-depth ratio was 3.5 and the Reynolds number based on cavity depth was 42,000. The present LES resolves the formation of shear layer, its rollup resulting in large-scale structures apart from shock–shear layer interactions, and evolution of acoustic waves. It further indicates that hydrodynamic instability, rather than the acoustic waves, is the cause of self-sustained oscillation for subsonic flow, whereas the compressive and acoustic waves dictate the cavity oscillation, and thus the sound pressure level for supersonic flow. The present LES agrees well with the experimental data and is found to be accurate enough in resolving the shear layer growth, compressive wave structures, and radiated acoustic field.

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