Verifying urban canopy parameterization effects in a mesoscale model with wind tunnel data

<p>Airflow within and above urban canopy layers are modelled by different approaches in a wind tunnel and in a numerical mesoscale model. For the experimental approaches in the wind tunnel, the combination of spires, roughness elements and a physical model generates a scaled boundary layer flow with velocity and turbulence characteristics that are consistent with microscale urban canopy flows in reality. A wind tunnel is comparable in resolution with an obstacle resolving microscale model, therefore data comparisons are frequently done for this scale. However, for many applications numerical models of 1 km resolution are used, resolving mesoscale atmospheric phenomena but not microscale ones. Parameterizations are then used to represent physical processes and obstacle influences on the atmospheres. Due to the coarse resolution, a direct comparison of mesoscale model results and wind tunnel is difficult.</p> <p>In this study, we use wind tunnel data as validation datasets to evaluate the urban canopy parameterization effects on airflow in a mesoscale model. We have developed a multi-layer urban canopy parameterization using nudging, implemented in the atmospheric model METRAS. The extended model is tested in an idealized case, in which the model domain is designed using realistic topographical data for the Hamburg city center but not resolving buildings. To simplify the city structure, two important canopy morphological parameters are used: building surface fraction and building height. Experiments with a similar model configuration were carried out in parallel in the Blasius wind tunnel facility of the Environmental Wind-Tunnel Laboratory of the University of Hamburg at a model scale of 1:500. Based on the realistic building surface fraction and building height, a pyramid-like model for the urban canopy is placed in the wind tunnel. The set-ups of the numerical model runs and the wind tunnel experiments are designed following two principles: first, keeping the set-up in both approaches as equivalent as possible, in terms of meteorological conditions, roughness lengths, simulation durations, etc.; secondly, taking into account the limitations of the microscale wind tunnel datasets and keeping as many characteristics of atmospheric processes as possible.</p> <p>The METRAS results show a good agreement with the wind tunnel datasets, in terms of representing building effects such as the reduction of mean wind speeds in the building wake, enhanced turbulence intensities and turbulent fluctuation characteristics for a sufficiently fine scale. However, for coarser resolution, the result comparability reduces and the agreement is less. Thus, we conclude that sub-grid scale canopy effects can be parameterized sufficiently well for their impacts on the average flow, but any detailed changes can only be simulated with a sufficiently high resolution.</p>

The Influence of the Microstructure of Ceramic-Elastomer Composites on Their Energy Absorption Capability

The paper presents the experimental results of static and dynamic compressive tests conducted on ceramic-elastomer composites. The alumina ceramic preforms were fabricated by the four-step method: ceramic mixture preparation, consolidation under pressure, presintering, and sintering under pressure, respectively. To obtain ceramic preforms with a similar volume fraction of open pores, but with different pore sizes, alumina powder with different particle size and a ceramic binder were used, as well as pore-forming agents that were evenly distributed throughout the volume of the molding mass. The composites were obtained using vacuum pressure infiltration of porous alumina ceramic by urea-urethane elastomer in liquid form. As a result, the obtained composites were characterized by two phases that interpenetrated three-dimensionally and topologically throughout the microstructure. The microstructure of the ceramic preforms was revealed by X-ray tomography, which indicated that the alumina preforms had similar porosity of approximately 40% vol. but different pore diameter in the range of 6 to 34 µm. After composite fabrication, image analysis was carried out. Due to the microstructure of the ceramic preforms, the composites differed in the specific surface fraction of the interphase boundaries (Sv). The highest value of the Sv parameter was achieved for composite fabricated by infiltration method of using ceramic preform with the smallest pore size. Static and dynamic tests were carried out using different strain rate: 1.4·10−3, 7·10−2, 1.4·10−1, and 3·103 s−1. Compressive strength, stress at plateau zone, and absorbed energy were determined. It was found that the ceramic-elastomer composites’ ability to absorb energy depended on the specific surface fraction of the interphase boundaries and achieved a value between 15.3 MJ/m3 in static test and 51.1 MJ/m3 for dynamic strain rate.

Effects of aluminum and copper on the graphite morphology, microstructure, and compressive properties of ductile iron

The effect of aluminum (0, 2, 4, and 6 wt. %) and copper (0, 2, 4, and 6 wt. %) on graphite morphology, microstructure and compressive behavior of ductile iron specimens manufactured by sand casting technique were investigated. The graphite morphology and microstructure were evaluated using optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped image processing software. To study the mechanical properties, the compression test was conducted on the ductile iron specimens. The results indicated that the surface fraction and nodule count of graphite decreased when the amount of aluminum increased from 0 to 2 wt. % and after that from 2 to 6 wt. %. In addition, the nodularity of graphite increased with the increment of the aluminum amounts. By adding the amount of copper, the surface fraction and nodule count of graphite increased and nodularity of graphite decreased. The addition of aluminum and copper decreased the surface fraction of ferrite and increased the surface fraction of pearlite in the microstructure. By increasing the amounts of aluminum and copper, compressive stress vs. strain curves were shifted upwards, and modulus of elasticity, yield strength, maximum compressive stress, and fracture strain improved. In comparison with copper, aluminum had a greater influence on the mechanical properties of ductile iron.

Analyzing the Characteristics of UHI (Urban Heat Island) in Summer Daytime Based on Observations on 50 Sites in 11 LCZ (Local Climate Zone) Types in Xi’an, China

Urbanization has induced significant changes on local climate in urban areas. For sustainable urban planning, it is necessary to identify the distribution characteristics of urban heat island (UHI) and the effects of land cover properties. In situ measurements are frequently carried out to obtain critical data in urban climate studies. However, long-time continuous observations on multiple sites are still rare, even though they would be useful in mapping the distribution of UHI intensity. In the current work, three observation campaigns were carried out in Xi’an, China. Pedestrian- level air temperatures (PLAT) were measured with potable micro-environment stations on 50 sites in 11 local climate zone (LCZ) types. The normalized PLAT was used to investigate the canopy layer UHI characteristics and the effects of LCZ types. Results revealed that the land coverage type and the surface structure have significant influence on the local climate. The PLAT in high-surface-fraction building covered areas was higher than that in low-surface-fraction building covered areas. In areas with similar building surface fraction, building height influences the UHI magnitude as well, as tall buildings would provide more shielding on the pedestrian level. The average UHI magnitude and the standard deviation within each LCZ type were calculated by statistical analysis of the observed results, which proved to be useful for UHI mapping based on the LCZ classification results in urban areas.

Numerical Simulation to Determine the Effect of Topological Entropy on the Effective Transport Coefficient of Unidirectional Composites

The influence of topological entropy (TS) on the effective transport coefficient (ETC) of a two-phase material is analyzed. The proposed methodology studies a system of aligned bars that evolves into a stochastic heterogeneous system. This proposal uses synthetic images generated by computational algorithms and experimental images from the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Microstructural variation is imposed for statistical reconstruction moments by simulated annealing (SA) and it is characterized through TS applied in Voronoi diagrams of the studied systems. On the other hand, ETC is determined numerically by the Finite Volume Method (FVM) and generalized by a transport efficiency of charge (ek). The results suggest that our approach can work as a design tool to improve the ETC in stochastic heterogeneous materials. The case studies show that ek decreases when TS increases to the point of stability of both variables. For example, for the 80% surface fraction, in the particulate system of diameter D = 1, ek = 50.81 ± 0.26% @ TS = 0.27 ± 0.002; when the system has an agglomerate distribution similar to a SEM image, ek = 45.69 ± 0.60% @ TS = 0.32 ± 0.002.

GIS-BASED MAPPING OF LOCAL CLIMATE ZONES USING FUZZY LOGIC AND CELLULAR AUTOMATA

Because of the vague distinction between urban and rural areas, the Local Climate Zone (LCZ) scheme was developed to better analyze the effect of Urban Heat Island. To map the LCZs in a city, the World Urban Database and Portal Tool is used as conventional method. However, this requires the assignment of training areas for each LCZ, which entails local knowledge of the area and may introduce errors, as distinction between LCZ types through visual inspection is inconclusive. This paper aims to develop a methodology and GIS tool to enhance and automate the mapping of LCZs using seven LCZ properties (sky view factor, building surface fraction, pervious surface fraction, impervious surface fraction, building height, roughness length, and surface albedo), and apply it in Quezon City, Philippines which comprises varying land use and land cover. Fuzzy Logic was used to determine the membership percentage of 100 m cells to an LCZ type based on these properties. Cellular Automata was implemented using Python to derive the LCZ map from the fuzzy layers. Results show that seven out of ten built-up LCZs and five out of seven land cover LCZs were identified. Through visual inspection on a basemap, the mapped LCZs was confirmed to match with the features of the city. Land Surface Temperature (LST) derived from Landsat 8 showed that each LCZ type displayed temperatures consistent with those observed from literature. The developed methodology and tool is ready to be used in other cities as long as the input layers are generated.

On Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing of Plastic Pollution in Natural Waters

Plastic pollution in the world’s natural waters is of growing concern and currently receiving significant attention. However, remote sensing of marine plastic litter is still in the developmental stage. Most progress has been made in spectral remote sensing using visible to short-wave infrared wavelengths where optical physics applies. Thermal infrared (TIR) sensing could potentially monitor plastic water pollution but has not been studied in detail. We applied radiative transfer theory to predict TIR sensitivity to changes in the surface fraction of water covered by plastic litter and found that the temperature difference between the water surface and the surroundings controls the TIR signal. Hence, we mapped this difference for various months and times of the day using global SST (sea surface temperature) and t2m (temperature at 2 m height) hourly estimates from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), ERA5. The maps show how SST-t2m difference varied, altering the anticipated effectivity of TIR floating plastic litter remote sensing. We selected several locations of interest to predict the effectivity of TIR sensing of the plastic surface fraction. TIR remote sensing has promising potential and is expected to be more effective in areas with a high air–sea temperature difference.