Scale effects in wind tunnel modeling of an urban atmospheric boundary layer

Precise urban atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) wind tunnel simulations are essential for a wide variety of atmospheric studies in built-up environments including wind loading of structures and air pollutant dispersion. One of key issues in addressing these problems is a proper choice of simulation length scale. In this study, an urban ABL was reproduced in a boundary layer wind tunnel at different scales to study possible scale effects. Two full-depth simulations and one part-depth simulation were carried out using castellated barrier wall, vortex generators, and a fetch of roughness elements. Redesigned “Counihan” vortex generators were employed in the part-depth ABL simulation. A hot-wire anemometry system was used to measure mean velocity and velocity fluctuations. Experimental results are presented as mean velocity, turbulence intensity, Reynolds stress, integral length scale of turbulence, and power spectral density of velocity fluctuations. Results suggest that variations in length-scale factor do not influence the generated ABL models when using similarity criteria applied in this study. Part-depth ABL simulation compares well with two full-depth ABL simulations indicating the truncated vortex generators developed for this study can be successfully employed in urban ABL part-depth simulations.     

Experiments on integral length scale control in atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel

Accurate predictions of turbulent characteristics in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) depends on understanding the effects of surface roughness on the spatial distribution of velocity, turbulence intensity, and turbulence length scales. Simulation of the ABL characteristics have been performed in a short test section length wind tunnel to determine the appropriate length scale factor for modeling, which ensures correct aeroelastic behavior of structural models for non-aerodynamic applications. The ABL characteristics have been simulated by using various configurations of passive devices such as vortex generators, air barriers, and slot in the test section floor which was extended into the contraction cone. Mean velocity and velocity fluctuations have been measured using a hot-wire anemometry system. Mean velocity, turbulence intensity, turbulence scale, and power spectral density of velocity fluctuations have been obtained from the experiments for various configuration of the passive devices. It is shown that the integral length scale factor can be controlled using various combinations of the passive devices.     

Hilbert方法在大气边界层湍流特征分析中的有效性

介绍一种新的建立在经验模态分解(EMD)方法基础上的非线性、非平稳数据分析技术一Hilbert分析技术,并首次将其应用于大气边界层(PBL)湍流数据的分析,初步探讨了其在PBL湍流研究中的有效性.通过对城市与森林冠层上湍流资料的能量分布特征和统计平稳度进行分析、比较,结果表明:Hilbert谱分析能有效地对PBL湍流信号进行分析.它的边缘谱分析能够有效地探测PBL湍流信号的能量分布特征,统计平稳度分析也能有效地给出PBL湍流信号平稳性的定量化测量,这些将有助于建立合适的数据质量控制方法,以及对现有空气质量与扩散模式中扩散参数的计算加以改进.文中个例分析中,城市和森林冠层上空的湍流有一定相似性,湍流混合都比较充分,但森林冠层上湍流信号的能量更多地集中在大尺度湍涡,且扰动风速的高频部分具有更强的间歇性.对于相近高度的湍流信号来说,多数情况下,森林冠层上相同尺度的湍涡表现得比城市冠层上更不稳定,但湍涡的含能量要更低.     

Study of near-surface models for large-eddy simulations of a neutrally stratified atmospheric boundary layer

In large-eddy simulations (LES) of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), near-surface models are often used to supplement subgrid-scale (SGS) turbulent stresses when a major fraction of the energetic scales within the surface layer cannot be resolved with the temporal and spatial resolution at hand. In this study, we investigate the performance of both dynamic and non-dynamic eddy viscosity models coupled with near-surface models in simulations of a neutrally stratified ABL. Two near-surface models that are commonly used in LES of the atmospheric boundary layer are considered. Additionally, a hybrid Reynolds- averaged/LES eddy viscosity model is presented, which uses Prandtl’s mixing length model in the vicinity of the surface, and blends in with the dynamic Smagorinsky model away from the surface. Present simulations show that significant portions of the modelled turbulent stresses are generated by the near-surface models, and they play a dominant role in capturing the expected logarithmic wind profile. Visualizations of the instantaneous vorticity field reveal that flow structures in the vicinity of the surface depend on the choice of the near-surface model. Among the three near-surface models studied, the hybrid eddy viscosity model gives the closest agreement with the logarithmic wind profile in the surface layer. It is also observed that high levels of resolved turbulence stresses can be maintained with the so-called canopy stress model while producing good agreement with the logarithmic wind profile.     

Structure Function Analysis of Two-Scale Scalar Ramps. Part I: Theory and Modelling

Structure functions are used to study the dissipation and inertial range scales of turbulent energy, to parametrize remote turbulence measurements, and to characterize ramp features in the turbulent field. Ramp features are associated with turbulent coherent structures, which dominate energy and mass fluxes in the atmospheric surface layer. The analysis of structure functions to identify ramp characteristics is used in surface renewal methods for estimating fluxes. It is unclear how commonly observed different scales of ramp-like shapes (i.e., smaller ramps and spikes embedded in larger ramps) influence structure function analysis. Here, we examine the impact of two ramp-like scales on structure function analysis using artificially generated data. The range of time lags in structure function analysis was extended to include time lags typically associated with isotropic turbulence to those larger than the ramp durations. The Van Atta procedure (Arch Mech 29:161–171, 1977) has been expanded here to resolve the characteristics of two-scale ramp models. This new method accurately, and in some cases, exactly determines the amplitude and duration of both ramp scales. Spectral analysis was applied to the structure functions for a broad range of time lags to provide qualitative support for the expanded Van Atta procedure results. The theory reported here forms the foundation for novel methods of analyzing turbulent coherent structures.     

CONDITIONAL SAMPLING AND SCALE ANALYSIS OF THE MARINE ATMOSPHERIC MIXED LAYER -- SOFIA EXPERIMENT

During the SOFIA experiment, performed in the Azores region in June1992, airborne missions were conducted in the atmospheric boundary layerwith two aircraft instrumented for turbulence measurements. We show howthe conditional sampling technique, applied to the velocity, temperatureand moisture fluctuations, is able to describe the various parcels whichconstitute the turbulent field. Each parcel, so identified, is characterized byits fractional area and by its contribution to the transfers of sensible heat andlatent heat. On the other hand, a scale analysis is conducted by filteringthe turbulent signals in five non-overlapping frequency bands, definedaccording to the characteristic turbulent scales. The contribution of eachband to the turbulent energy and to the transfers is thus presented. Theimportance of the lowest frequencies, which are generally removed fromthe signals by high-pass filtering before computing turbulent fluxes, isshown. In the final section, the conditional sampling technique is applied tothe signals filtered in the various bands. Despite a slight deformation of theeddies due to the filtering technique, the contribution of each parcel can beestimated at the various scales analysed.     

湍流动能闭合方法在中尺度模式中的应用

湍流动能闭合方法是近年来发展起来的用以模拟大气边界层的一种方法,本文对其做了简化,仅在边界层内使用这一方法,进一步减少计算量,使之更适用于中尺度数值模拟。对一维旺加拉（Wangara）资料进行的试验表明,这种方法保留了边界层计算的精度,又能节省机时。然后将这种方法应用于三维中尺度钟形山地形的模拟,描述了湍流动能的分布,以及湍流活动对山后回流区面积和强度的影响。     

On the consideration of mesoscale transports in climate modelling

Summary The dynamical effect of land surface heterogeneity on heat fluxes in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is investigated using numerical simulations with a non-hydrostatic model over a wide range of grid resolutions. It is commonly assumed that mesoscale or dynamical fluxes associated with mesoscale and convective circulations simulated by a high-resolution model (subgrid (SG) model) on the subgrid scale of a climate model (large-scale (LS) model) represent additional processes in the ABL, which are not considered by the turbulence scheme of the LS-model, and which can be parameterized using the SG-model. The present study investigates the usefulness of this methodology for small-scale and large-scale idealized heterogeneities using a SG-model resolving mesoscale or even microscale circulations to compute the mesoscale fluxes on the scale of the LS-model. It is shown that the dynamical transports as derived from the SG-model should not be used to correct the parameterized turbulent fluxes of the LS-model. The reason is that the subgrid circulations simulated by the SG-model interact with the fields of wind and scalars in the ABL, which results in reduced turbulent fluxes in the ABL. Thus the methodology of previous studies to use mesoscale/dynamical fluxes for the correction of flux profiles simulated by climate models seems to be questionable.     

Dynamical Initialization of Boundary-Layer Data

A procedure for the dynamic initialization of wind and temperature fields within the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is presented. The procedure uses transilient turbulence theory to assess the turbulent fluxes from observed wind and temperature data, which are used to estimate the eddy transfer coefficients, so enabling a local closure ABL model to be integrated forward in time to a new steady state. The method has been applied to initialize kytoon data taken at Kharagpur (22.3° N, 87.2° E) during the MONTBLEX field programme. Results of a case study for 17 June 1990 are discussed.     

Maximal Overlap Wavelet Statistical Analysis With Application to Atmospheric Turbulence

Statistical tools based on the maximal overlap discrete wavelet transform (MODWT) are reviewed, and then applied to a dataset of aircraft observations of the atmospheric boundary layer from the tropical eastern Pacific, which includes quasi-stationary and non-stationary segments. The wavelet methods provide decompositions of variances and covariances, e.g. fluxes, between time scales that effectively describe a broadband process like atmospheric turbulence. Easily understood statistical confidence bounds are discussed and applied to these scale decompositions, and results are compared to Fourier methods for quasi-stationary turbulence. The least asymmetric LA(8) wavelet filter yields coefficients that exhibit better uncorrelatedness across scales than the Haar filter and is better suited for decomposition of broadband turbulent signals. An application to a non-stationary segment of our dataset, namely vertical profiles of the turbulent dissipation rate, highlights the flexibility of wavelet methods.     

E − ε − 〈θ 2〉 turbulence closure model for an atmospheric boundary layer including the urban canopy

A modified three-parameter model of turbulence for a thermally stratified atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is presented. The model is based on tensor-invariant parameterizations for the pressure–strain and pressure–temperature correlations that are more complete than the parameterizations used in the Mellor–Yamada model of level 3.0. The turbulent momentum and heat fluxes are calculated with explicit algebraic models obtained with the aid of symbol algebra from the transport equations for momentum and heat fluxes in the approximation of weakly equilibrium turbulence. The turbulent transport of heat and momentum fluxes is assumed to be negligibly small in this approximation. The three-parameter $E - \varepsilon - {\left\langle {\theta ^{2} } \right\rangle }$ model of thermally stratified turbulence is employed to obtain closed-form algebraic expressions for the fluxes. A computational test of a 24-h ABL evolution is implemented for an idealized two-dimensional region. Comparison of the computed results with the available observational data and other numerical models shows that the proposed model is able to reproduce both the most important structural features of the turbulence in an urban canopy layer near the urbanized ABL surface and the effect of urban roughness on a global structure of the fields of wind and temperature over a city. The results of the computational test for the new model indicate that the motion of air in the urban canopy layer is strongly influenced by mechanical factors (buildings) and thermal stratification.     

Observations of atmospheric boundary layer evolution above the Gulf Stream frontal zone

Ship borne measurements of atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) parameters, sea-surface temperature and radar signals are analyzed to reveal the effects of the ABL transformation above the Gulf Stream temperature frontal zone. It was found that local changes in vertical gradients of wind speed and air temperature are well correlated with sub-mesoscale (~ 10 km) sea surface temperature variations. These effects are accompanied by appropriate variations in surface wind stresses that were identified from microwave backscatter.For steady atmospheric conditions the same effects were observed on spatial scales of 100 km, demonstrating positive radar signal contrast of the Gulf Stream warm waters with respect to surrounding Sargasso sea and shelf water areas. A simplified model of the ABL, accounting for an effect of spatial inhomogeneity by introducing an internal boundary layer, is used to analyze field observations. The model is able to reproduce both sub-mesoscale and mesoscale ABL evolution.     

用连续子波变换提取城市冠层大气湍流的相干结构

切变湍流的相干结构是湍流研究中的重大发现,它表明湍流在表面上看来不规则运动中具有可检测的有序运动,这种相干结构在切变湍流的脉动生成和发展中起着主宰作用.因此识别和提取相干结构对于认识和研究湍流是非常重要的.用数字滤波法将包含相干结构的大尺度信号提取出来以后,再用子波分析,根据子波能量极大值的判别方法,分别确定出大气湍流三个方向上的速度脉动信号相干结构的频率或时间尺度,然后由确定尺度上的连续子波反演公式,提取出大气湍流三个方向上的速度脉动信号相干结构所对应的波形.     

Current problems in the stratocumulus-topped atmospheric boundary layer

Extended sheets of stratocumulus (Sc) in the upper part of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) often occur under appropriate meteorological conditions. These cloud decks are important both in climate studies and in weather forecasting. We review the current knowledge of the turbulent structure of the ABL capped by a cloud deck, in the light of recent observations and model studies. The most important physical processes determining this structure are longwave radiative cooling at cloud top, shortwave radiative wanning by absorption in the cloud, surface buoyancy flux, and wind shear in the ABL. As a result, turbulence can cause entrainment against the buoyancy jump at cloud top. In cases where only longwave radiative fluxes and surface buoyancy fluxes are important, the turbulent structure is relatively well understood. When shortwave radiative fluxes and/or wind shear are also important, the resulting turbulent structure may change considerably. A decoupling of the cloud from the sub-cloud layer or of the top of the cloud from the rest of the ABL is then regularly observed. In no cases are the details of the entrainment at cloud top understood well enough to derive a relatively simple formulation that is consistent with observations. Cloud-top entrainment instability may lead to the break-up of a cloud deck (but also to cloud deepening). The role of mesoscale circulations in determining fractional cloudiness is not yet well understood.     

Modelling the One-Dimensional Stable Boundary Layer with an E−ℓ Turbulence Closure Scheme

The atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) model of Weng and Taylor with E−ℓ turbulence closure is applied to simulate the one-dimensional stably stratified ABL. The model has been run for nine hours from specified initial wind, potential temperature and turbulent kinetic energy profiles, and with a specified cooling rate applied at the surface. Different runs are conducted for different cooling rates, geostrophic winds and surface roughnesses. The results are discussed and compared with other models, large-eddy simulations and published field data.     

A Comprehensive Modelling Approach for the Neutral Atmospheric Boundary Layer: Consistent Inflow Conditions, Wall Function and Turbulence Model

We report on a novel approach for the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) modelling of the neutral atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), using the standard k-ek-{\varepsilon} turbulence model. A new inlet condition for turbulent kinetic energy is analytically derived from the solution of the k-ek-{\varepsilon} model transport equations, resulting in a consistent set of fully developed inlet conditions for the neutral ABL. A modification of the standard k-ek-{\varepsilon} model is also employed to ensure consistency between the inlet conditions and the turbulence model. In particular, the turbulence model constant C _μ is generalized as a location-dependent parameter, and a source term is introduced in the transport equation for the turbulent dissipation rate. The application of the proposed methodology to cases involving obstacles in the flow is made possible through the implementation of an algorithm, which automatically switches the turbulence model formulation when going from the region where the ABL is undisturbed to the region directly affected by the building. Finally, the model is completed with a slightly modified version of the Richards and Hoxey rough-wall boundary condition. The methodology is implemented and tested in the commercial code Ansys Fluent 12.1. Results are presented for a neutral boundary layer over flat terrain and for the flow around a single building immersed in an ABL.     

An assessment of proposed similarity theories for the atmospheric boundary layer

The various similarity theories proposed for the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) are critically examined in the light of some recent atmospheric observations as well as the results of numerical modeling experiments. For the surface layer, the theory proposed by Monin and Obukhov (1954) is still the best, although by no means perfect. For the whole ABL, the older Kazanski-Monin (1961) similarity theory is found to be less satisfactory, and must be replaced by the generalized version of Deardorff's (1972a) hypothesis, which considers the effects of varying boundary-layer height, latitude, stability, and baroclinicity. The latter presents no conceptual or mathematical difficulties when applied to low latitudes. The free convection similarity scaling is valid only for certain turbulent quantities, under well-developed convection. The shear convection hypothesis of Zilitinkevich (1973) for the surface layer, as well as its extension for the whole ABL, are found wanting on both theoretical and physical grounds, and lead to unrealistic predictions about the turbulence structure.Contribution No. 350, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington.     

Determining Boundary-Layer Height from Aircraft Measurements

The height of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is an important variable in both observational studies and model simulations. The most commonly used measurement for obtaining ABL height is a rawinsonde profile. Mesoscale or regional scale models use a bulk Richardson number based on profiles of the forecast variables. Here we evaluate the limitations of several frequently-used approaches for defining ABL height from a single profile, and identify the optimal threshold value for each method if profiles are the only available measurements. Aircraft measurements from five field projects are used, representing a variety of ABL conditions including stable, convective, and cloud-topped boundary layers over different underlying surfaces. ABL heights detected from these methods were validated against the ‘true’ value determined from aircraft soundings, where ABL height is defined as the top of the layer with significant turbulence. A detection rate was defined to denote how often the ABL height was correctly diagnosed with a particular method. The results suggest that the temperature gradient method provides the most reasonable estimates, although the detection rate and suitable detection criteria vary for different types of ABL. The Richardson number method, on the other hand, is in most cases inadequate or inferior to the other methods that were tried. The optimal range of the detection criteria is given for all ABL types examined in this study.