scholarly journals Technical note: Interpretation of field observations of point-source methane plume using observation-driven large-eddy simulations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Ražnjević ◽  
Chiel van Heerwaarden ◽  
Bart van Stratum ◽  
Arjan Hensen ◽  
Ilona Velzeboer ◽  
...  

Abstract. This study demonstrates the ability of large-eddy simulation (LES) forced by a large-scale model to reproduce plume dispersion in an actual field campaign. Our aim is to bring together field observations taken under non-ideal conditions and LES to show that this combination can help to derive point source strengths from sparse observations. We prepared a one-day case study based on data collected near an oil well during the ROMEO campaign (ROmanian Methane Emissions from Oil and gas) that took place in October 2019. We set up our LES using boundary conditions derived from the meteorological reanalysis ERA5 and released a point source in line with the configuration in the field. The weather conditions produced by the LES show close agreement with field observations, although the observed wind field showed complex features due to the absence of synoptic forcing. In order to align the plume direction with field observations, we created a second simulation experiment with manipulated wind fields. The estimated source strengths using the LES plume agrees well with the emitted artificial tracer gas plume, indicating the suitability of LES to infer source strengths from observations under complex conditions. To further harvest the added value of LES, higher order statistical moments of the simulated plume were analysed. Here, we found good agreement with plumes from previous LES and laboratory experiments in channel flows. We derived a length scale of plume mixing from the boundary layer height, the mean wind speed and convective velocity scale. It was demonstrated that this length scale represents the distance from the source at which the predominant plume behaviour transfers from meandering dispersion to relative dispersion.

Author(s):  
Joseph W. Nichols ◽  
Sanjiva K. Lele ◽  
Frank E. Ham ◽  
Steve Martens ◽  
John T. Spyropoulos

Crackle noise from heated supersonic jets is characterized by the presence of strong positive pressure impulses resulting in a strongly skewed far-field pressure signal. These strong positive pressure impulses are associated with N-shaped waveforms involving a shocklike compression and, thus, is very annoying to observers when it occurs. Unlike broadband shock-associated noise which dominates at upstream angles, crackle reaches a maximum at downstream angles associated with the peak jet noise directivity. Recent experiments (Martens et al., 2011, “The Effect of Chevrons on Crackle—Engine and Scale Model Results,” Proceedings of the ASME Turbo Expo, Paper No. GT2011-46417) have shown that the addition of chevrons to the nozzle lip can significantly reduce crackle, especially in full-scale high-power tests. Because of these observations, it was conjectured that crackle is associated with coherent large scale flow structures produced by the baseline nozzle and that the formation of these structures are interrupted by the presence of the chevrons, which leads to noise reduction. In particular, shocklets attached to large eddies are postulated as a possible aerodynamic mechanism for the formation of crackle. In this paper, we test this hypothesis through a high-fidelity large-eddy simulation (LES) of a hot supersonic jet of Mach number 1.56 and a total temperature ratio of 3.65. We use the LES solver CHARLES developed by Cascade Technologies, Inc., to capture the turbulent jet plume on fully-unstructured meshes.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 485
Author(s):  
Zhuangzhuang Zhou ◽  
Chongzhi Yin ◽  
Chunsong Lu ◽  
Xingcan Jia ◽  
Fang Ye ◽  
...  

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.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Nakayama ◽  
K. Jurcakova ◽  
H. Nagai

Abstract. Plume dispersion of hazardous materials within urban area resulting from accidental or intentional releases is of great concern to public health. Many researchers have developed local-scale atmospheric dispersion models using building-resolving computational fluid dynamics. However, an important issue is encountered when determining a reasonable domain size of the computational model in order to capture concentration distribution patterns influenced by urban surface geometries. In this study, we carried out Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) of plume dispersion within various urban areas with a wide range of obstacle density and building height variability. The difference of centerline mean and r.m.s. concentration distributions among various complex urban surface geometries becomes small for downwind distances from the point source greater than 1.0 km. From these results, it can be concluded that a length of a computational model should be at least 1.0 km from a point source.


Author(s):  
Xiangfeng Zhang ◽  
Qianjin Yue ◽  
Wenshou Zhang

Deep water pipeline installations by S-lay present many challenges, especially in the overbend section. The S-lay requires a long curved and stiff stinger to support the pipeline weight. The interaction between the overbend pipe and stinger is complicated such that the numerical structure analysis could not sufficiently predict the mechanical behavior of the installing process. A dynamic substructure model test method with 1:20 length scale for 2000 m water depth is addressed in this paper, where the large scale model structure can be tested to simulate the vessel movements during installation. The roller forces influenced by the stinger stiffness and vessel movements are discussed based on the test platform.


Author(s):  
Maximilian Streicher ◽  
Andreas Kortenhaus ◽  
Corrado Altomare ◽  
Steven Hughes ◽  
Krasimir Marinov ◽  
...  

Abstract Overtopping bore impact forces on a dike mounted vertical wall were measured in similar large-scale (Froude length scale factor 1-to-4.3) and small-scale (Froude length scale factor 1-to-25) models. The differences due to scale effects were studied, by comparing the up-scaled force measurements from both models in prototype. It was noted that if a minimum layer thickness, velocity of the overtopping flow and water depth at the dike toe were maintained in the small-scale model, the resulting differences in impact force due to scale effects are within the range of differences due to non-repeatability and model effects.


2015 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
pp. 828-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerôme Schalkwijk ◽  
Harmen J. J. Jonker ◽  
A. Pier Siebesma ◽  
Fred C. Bosveld

Abstract Results are presented of two large-eddy simulation (LES) runs of the entire year 2012 centered at the Cabauw observational supersite in the Netherlands. The LES is coupled to a regional weather model that provides the large-scale information. The simulations provide three-dimensional continuous time series of LES-generated turbulence and clouds, which can be compared in detail to the extensive observational dataset of Cabauw. The LES dataset is available from the authors on request. This type of LES setup has a number of advantages. First, it can provide a more statistical approach to the study of turbulent atmospheric flow than the more common case studies, since a diverse but representative set of conditions is covered, including numerous transitions. This has advantages in the design and evaluation of parameterizations. Second, the setup can provide valuable information on the quality of the LES model when applied to such a wide range of conditions. Last, it also provides the possibility to emulate observation techniques. This might help detect limitations and potential problems of a variety of measurement techniques. The LES runs are validated through a comparison with observations from the observational supersite and with results from the “parent” large-scale model. The long time series that are generated, in combination with information on the spatial structure, provide a novel opportunity to study time scales ranging from seconds to seasons. This facilitates a study of the power spectrum of horizontal and vertical wind speed variance to identify the dominant variance-containing time scales.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weipeng Li

Pulsed upstream mass injection is examined to suppress supersonic cavity oscillations. The efficiency and physics of the noise control are investigated by large-eddy simulations of a turbulent flow (M∞=2.0,ReD=105) past a rectangular cavity with a length-to-depth ratio of 2. Results show that the pulsed mass injection behaves less effectively in reducing the cavity oscillations than the steady one. The primary reason is that the pulsed mass injection is ineffective in lifting up the cavity shear layer and in suppressing the turbulent fluctuations in the shear layer. It concluded that breakup of the large-scale vorticial structures into a smaller length scale reveals direct links existing between the large-scale vortices and the radiation of the cavity resonances.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document