Large-Eddy Simulation for the Roughness Sublayers over Real Urban Surfaces 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lan Yao ◽  
Chun-Ho Liu
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Large Eddy Simulation ◽  
Momentum Flux ◽  
Local Maximum ◽  
Air Entrainment ◽  
Urban Morphology ◽  
Conditional Sampling ◽  
Law Of The Wall ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Large Eddy

<p><strong>ABSTRACT: </strong></p><p>    With the continuous spreading of global pandemic, environmental issues have aroused worldwide unprecedented attention. Airflow plays a crucial role in aerosol motions and pollutants removal in dense cities. Large-eddy simulation (LES) is conducted for a typical metropolitan, Hong Kong, to investigate the dynamics in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over real urban surfaces. Full-scale building models (average building height h<sub>m</sub> = 36 m) from Tsim Sha Tsui to Sham Shui Po, Kowloon Peninsula, are digitalized. Southerly wind with speed U<sub>∞</sub> (= 10 m sec<sup>-1</sup>) in neutral stratification is prescribed at the domain inlet. The turbulence statistics extracted from three subdomains in Mong Kok neighborhood, each with size 800 m (streamwise) × 100 m (spanwise) × 500 m (vertical), are analyzed. Linear regression of the wind profile with the logarithmic law of the wall (log-law) show that the interface between inertial sublayer (ISL) and roughness sublayer (RSL) is in the range of 2.5h<sub>m</sub> to 4.5h<sub>m</sub>. In the RSL, the streamwise and vertical velocities are positively (S<sub>u</sub> > 0) and negatively (S<sub>w</sub> < 0) skewed, respectively. Their kurtosis K<sub>u</sub> and K<sub>w</sub> is less than 3. Conditional sampling of vertical momentum, flux u’’w’’ showed that ejection Q2 occurs more frequently than does sweep Q4. On the contrary, the contribution of Q4 exceeds that of Q2. These characteristics switch to the other way round in the ISL. Furthermore, the difference between Q4 and Q2, either in terms of occurrence or contribution, shows a local maximum around 50% of the total momentum flux, suggesting the major energy-carrying scales. Coherent structures depict elongated, (massive,) accelerating (decelerating) and descending (ascending) RSL (ISL) flows. Hence, the fresh (aged) air entrainment (detrainment) are signified by fast and extreme (slow and frequent) flows. These distinct features of RSL flows over real urban morphology provide an inspiration to improve the ground-level air quality by proper urban planning.</p><p><strong>KEYWORDS:</strong> Large-eddy simulation (LES), real urban morphology, turbulent boundary layer (TBL), conditional sampling, hole filtering</p><p> </p><p> </p>

A Framework for Simulating the Tropical-Cyclone Boundary Layer Using Large-Eddy Simulation and Its Use in Evaluating PBL Parameterizations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomin Chen ◽  
George H. Bryan ◽  
Jun A. Zhang ◽  
Joseph J. Cione ◽  
Frank D. Marks
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Tropical Cyclone ◽  
Large Eddy Simulation ◽  
Momentum Flux ◽  
Intensity Change ◽  
Length Scale ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Turbulence Length ◽  
Turbulence Length Scale

AbstractBoundary layer turbulent processes affect tropical cyclone (TC) structure and intensity change. However, uncertainties in the parameterization of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) under high-wind conditions remain challenging, mostly due to limited observations. This study presents and evaluates a framework of numerical simulation that can be used for a small-domain [O(5 km)] large-eddy simulation (LES) and single-column modeling (SCM) to study the TC boundary layer. The framework builds upon a previous study that uses a few input parameters to represent the TC vortex and adds a simple nudging term for temperature and moisture to account for the complex thermodynamic processes in TCs. The reference thermodynamic profiles at different wind speeds are retrieved from a composite analysis of dropsonde observations of mature hurricanes. Results from LES show that most of the turbulence kinetic energy and vertical momentum flux is associated with resolved processes when horizontal grid spacing is O(10 m). Comparison to observations of turbulence variables such as momentum flux, effective eddy viscosity, and turbulence length scale show that LES produces reasonable results but highlight areas where further observations are necessary. LES results also demonstrate that compared to a classic Ekman-type boundary layer, the TC boundary layer is shallower, develops steady conditions much quicker, and exhibits stronger wind speed near the surface. The utility of this framework is further highlighted by evaluating a first-order PBL parameterization, suggesting that an asymptotic turbulence length scale of 40 m produces a good match to LES results.

scholarly journals Nocturnal Boundary Layer Erosion Analysis in the Amazon Using Large-Eddy Simulation during GoAmazon Project 2014/5

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 240
Author(s):  
Rayonil Carneiro ◽  
Gilberto Fisch ◽  
Theomar Neves ◽  
Rosa Santos ◽  
Carlos Santos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Large Eddy Simulation ◽  
Rainy Season ◽  
Nocturnal Boundary Layer ◽  
Enso Event ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Dry Period ◽  
Additional Energy ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Large Eddy

This study investigated the erosion of the nocturnal boundary layer (NBL) over the central Amazon using a high-resolution model of large-eddy simulation (LES) named PArallel Les Model (PALM) and observational data from Green Ocean Amazon (GoAmazon) project 2014/5. This data set was collected during four intense observation periods (IOPs) in the dry and rainy seasons in the years 2014 (considered a typical year) and 2015, during which an El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event predominated and provoked an intense dry season. The outputs from the PALM simulations represented reasonably well the NBL erosion, and the results showed that it has different characteristics between the seasons. During the rainy season, the IOPs exhibited slow surface heating and less intense convection, which resulted in a longer erosion period, typically about 3 h after sunrise (that occurs at 06:00 local time). In contrast, dry IOPs showed more intensive surface warming with stronger convection, resulting in faster NBL erosion, about 2 h after sunrise. A conceptual model was derived to investigate the complete erosion during sunrise hours when there is a very shallow mixed layer formed close to the surface and a stable layer above. The kinematic heat flux for heating this layer during the erosion period showed that for the rainy season, the energy emitted from the surface and the entrainment was not enough to fully heat the NBL layer and erode it. Approximately 30% of additional energy was used in the system, which could come from the release of energy from biomass. The dry period of 2014 showed stronger heating, but it was also not enough, requiring approximately 6% of additional energy. However, for the 2015 dry period, which was under the influence of the ENSO event, it was shown that the released surface fluxes were sufficient to fully heat the layer. The erosion time of the NBL probably influenced the development of the convective boundary layer (CBL), wherein greater vertical development was observed in the dry season IOPs (~1500 m), while the rainy season IOPs had a shallower layer (~1200 m).

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