Near Wall Flow over Urban-like Roughness

In this study, comprehensive measurements over a number of urban-type surfaces with the same area density of 25% have been performed in a wind tunnel. The experiments were conducted at a free stream velocity of 10 m s^-1 and the main instrumentation was 120 ° x-wire anemometry, but measurement accuracy was checked using laser Doppler anemometry.The results haveconfirmed the strong three-dimensionalityof the turbulent flow inthe roughness sublayer and the depths of the inertial sublayer (log-law region) and roughness sublayer for each surface have been determined. Spatial averaging has been used to remove the variability of the flow in the roughness sublayer due to individual obstacles and it is shown that the spatially averaged mean velocity in the inertial sublayer and roughness sublayer can,together, be described by a single log-law with a mean zero-plane displacement and roughness length for the surface, provided that the proper surface stress is known. The spatially averaged shear stresses in the inertial sublayer and roughness sublayer are compared with the surface stress deduced from form drag measurements on the roughness elements themselves.The dispersive stress arising from the spatial inhomogeneity in the mean flow profiles was deduced from the data and is shown to be negligible compared with the usual Reynolds stresses in the roughness sublayer. Comparisons have been made between a homogeneous (regular element array) surface and one consisting of random height elements of the same total volume. Although the upper limits of the inertial sublayer for both surfaces were almost identical at equivalent fetch, the roughness sublayer was much thicker for the random surface than for the uniform surface, the friction velocity and the roughness length were significantly larger and the `roughness efficiency' was greater. It is argued that the inertial sublayer may not exist at all in some of the more extreme rough urban areas. These results will provide fundamental information for modelling urban air quality and forecasting urban wind climates.     

A Roughness Sublayer Wind Profile Above A Non-Uniform Surface

In atmospheric models for different scales the underlying surface consists of patches of bare soil and plant communities with different morphological parameters. Experimental evidence indicates that there is a significant departure of the wind profile above a vegetative surface from that predicted by the logarithmic relationship, which gives values that are greater than those observed. This situation can seriously disturb the physical picture concerning the transfers of momentum, heat and water vapour from the surface into the atmosphere.The intention of this paper is to generalise the calculation of exchange of momentum between the atmosphere and a non-homogenous vegetative surface, and to derive a general equation for the wind speed profile in a roughness sublayer under neutral conditions. Furthermore, these results are extended to non-neutral cases. The suggested expression for the wind profile is compared with some earlier approaches and the observations obtained above a broad range of plant communities.     

Mechanisms Controlling Turbulence Development Across A Forest Edge

In this paper we discuss the development of turbulence back from the transition fromopen moorland to a forest. Data from a field study and a wind-tunnel experiment arepresented. These show that the variance in the streamwise velocity begins to adjust tothe new surface between 2 to 4 tree heights downwind of the transition. This is soonerthan either the vertical velocity variance or the shear stress, both of which begin to adjust in a zone 3 to 5 tree heights downwind of the edge. Key terms in the prognostic equations for streamwise and vertical velocity variance are evaluated in order to explain these differences. The flow distortion caused by the forest edge, which extends to 4 tree heights downwind of the forest edge, is shown to be crucial in the delayed turbulence development. Initially the shear production term, which is the dominant source for the streamwise velocity variance, is counteracted by a sink in the vertical advection term. After the flow levels out the pressure redistribution (return-to-isotropy) term becomes the main sink of streamwisevelocity variance and feeds energy into the vertical velocity component. Therefore, thedevelopment of the vertical velocity variance and shear stress cannot begin until afterdevelopment of an increase in the streamwise velocity variance. Results are comparedwith other experiments, including the flow across shelterbelts, and large-eddy simulations of forest flow.     

The Adaptation of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer to a Change in Surface Roughness

The adaptation of the atmospheric boundary layer to a change in the underlying surface roughness is an interesting problem and hence much research, theoretical, experimental, and numerical, has been undertaken. Within the atmospheric boundary layer an accurate numerical model for the turbulent properties of the atmospheric boundary layer needs to be implemented if physically realistic results are to be obtained. Here, the adaptation of the atmospheric boundary layer to a change in surface roughness is investigated using a first-order turbulence closure model, a one-and-a-half-order turbulence closure model and a second-order turbulence closure model. Perturbations to the geostrophic wind and the pressure gradients are included and it is shown that the second-order turbulence closure model, namely the standard k - model, is inferior to a lower-order closure model if a modification to limit the turbulent eddy size within the atmospheric boundary layer is not included within the model.     

A simple unified theory for flow in the canopy and roughness sublayer

The mean flow profile within and above a tall canopy is well known to violate the standard boundary-layer flux–gradient relationships. Here we present a theory for the flow profile that is comprised of a canopy model coupled to a modified surface-layer model. The coupling between the two components and the modifications to the surface-layer profiles are formulated through the mixing layer analogy for the flow at a canopy top. This analogy provides an additional length scale—the vorticity thickness—upon which the flow just above the canopy, within the so-called roughness sublayer, depends. A natural form for the vertical profiles within the roughness sublayer follows that overcomes problems with many earlier forms in the literature. Predictions of the mean flow profiles are shown to match observations over a range of canopy types and stabilities. The unified theory predicts that key parameters, such as the displacement height and roughness length, have a significant dependence on the boundary-layer stability. Assuming one of these parameters a priori leads to the incorrect variation with stability of the others and incorrect predictions of the mean wind speed profile. The roughness sublayer has a greater impact on the mean wind speed in stable than unstable conditions. The presence of a roughness sublayer also allows the surface to exert a greater drag on the boundary layer for an equivalent value of the near-surface wind speed than would otherwise occur. This characteristic would alter predictions of the evolution of the boundary layer and surface states if included within numerical weather prediction models.     

Mean Flow and Turbulence Characteristics in an Urban Roughness Sublayer

In this study, a detailed model of an urban landscape has been re-constructed inthe wind tunnel and the flow structure inside and above the urban canopy has beeninvestigated. Vertical profiles of all three velocity components have been measuredwith a Laser-Doppler velocimeter, and an extensive analysis of the measured meanflow and turbulence profiles carried out. With respect to the flow structure inside thecanopy, two types of velocity profiles can be distinguished. Within street canyons,the mean wind velocities are almost zero or negative below roof level, while closeto intersections or open squares, significantly higher mean velocities are observed.In the latter case, the turbulent velocities inside the canopy also tend to be higherthan at street-canyon locations. For both types, turbulence kinetic energy and shearstress profiles show pronounced maxima in the flow region immediately above rooflevel.Based on the experimental data, a shear-stress parameterization is proposed, inwhich the velocity scale, u_s, and length scale, z_s, are based on the level and magnitude of the shear stress peak value. In order to account for a flow region inside the canopy with negligible momentum transport, a shear stress displacement height, d_s, is introduced. The proposed scaling and parameterization perform well for the measured profiles and shear-stress data published in the literature.The length scales derived from the shear-stress parameterization also allowdetermination of appropriate scales for the mean wind profile. The roughnesslength, z₀, and displacement height, d₀, can both be described as fractions of the distance, z_s - d_s, between the level of the shear-stress peak and the shear-stress displacement height. This result can be interpreted in such a way that the flow only feels the zone of depth z_s - d_s as the roughness layer. With respect to the lower part of the canopy (z < d_s) the flow behaves as a skimming flow. Correlations between the length scales z_s and d_s and morphometric parameters are discussed.The mean wind profiles above the urban structure follow a logarithmic windlaw. A combination of morphometric estimation methods for d₀ and z₀ with wind velocity measurements at a reference height, which allow calculation of the shear-stress velocity, u_*, appears to be the most reliable and easiest procedure to determine mean wind profile parameters. Inside the roughnesssublayer, a local scaling approach results in good agreement between measuredand predicted mean wind profiles.     

The Validity of Similarity Theory in the Roughness Sublayer Above Forests

Flux-gradient relationships based upon similarity theory have been reported to severely underestimate scalar fluxes in the roughness sublayer above forests, as compared to independent flux estimates (for example, eddy covariance or energy balance measurements). This paper presents the results of a unique three-month investigation into the validity of similarity theory in the roughness sublayer above forests. Eddy covariance and flux-gradient measurements of carbon dioxide (CO²) exchange were compared above a mixed deciduous forest at Camp Borden, Ontario, both before and after leaf senescence. The eddy covariance measurements used a Li-Cor infrared gas analyzer, and the flux-gradient (similarity theory) measurements featured a tunable diode laser Trace Gas Analysis System (TGAS). The TGAS resolved the CO² concentration difference to 300 parts per trillion by volume (ppt) based upon a half-hour sampling period. The measured enhancement factor (the ratio of independent flux estimates, in this case eddy covariance, to similarity theory fluxes) was smaller and occurred closer to the canopy than in most previous investigations of similarity theory. Very good agreement between the eddy covariance and similarity theory fluxes was found between 1.9 and 2.2 canopy heights (h^c), and the mean enhancement factors measured before and after leaf senescence were 1.10 plusmn; 0.06 and 1.24 ± 0.07, respectively. Larger discrepancies were measured closer to the canopy (1.2 to 1.4 h^c), and mean enhancement factors of 1.60 ± 0.10 and 1.82 ± 0.11 were measured before and after leaf senescence, respectively. Overall, the Borden results suggest that similarity theory can be used within the roughness sublayer with a greater confidence than previously has been believed.     

On the profiles of wind velocity in the roughness sublayer above a coniferous forest

Wind velocity and temperature measurements from a 200 m tower, locatedin a forest near Karlsruhe were used to investigatethe modified profile function of the wind velocity in theroughness sublayer.To avoid determination of the friction velocity we introduced analternative analysis with the expression instead of From the observed Fm* profiles we evaluated the profile function m*. The wind profiles observed under neutral conditions were well representedby a modified non-dimensional profile function with physically based boundary values at the top and at the bottom of theroughness sublayer.The results of our analysis can be used to take into consideration themomentum exchange between the atmosphere and a forest in mesoscaleatmospheric models in a refined way.     

城市表面粗糙度长度的确定

讨论了动量粗糙度长度与热量和水汽等标量粗糙度长度在形式上和物理本质上的不同，以及造成这些不同的原因和条件，分析了决定动量粗糙度的几种因素，并给出了确定动量粗糙度长度的简化关系式，并且根据城市冠层与其上惯性次层能量和动量守衡的原因，建立了热量和水汽粗糙度与动量粗糙度之间的联系，得到了确定热量和水汽粗糙度长度的简化关系式，最后，通过数值试验，表明了动量粗糙度和标量粗糙度变化特征以及对一些主要参数的敏感程度，以及动量粗糙度与标量粗糙度的动态关系。     

Spatial Variability of Both Turbulent Fluxes and Temperature Profiles in an Urban Roughness Layer

The spatial variability of both turbulent flow statistics in the roughness sublayer (RSL) and temperature profiles within and above the canopy layer (CL) were investigated experimentally in a densely built-up residential area in Tokyo, Japan. Using five towers with measuring devices, each tower isolated from the others by at least 200 m, we collected high-frequency measurements of velocity and temperature at a height z=1.8 z _H, where z _H, the mean building height in the area, is 7.3 m. Also, temperature profiles were measured from z=0.4 to 1.8 z _H. The ‘areal mean’ geometric parameters that were obtained for the areas within 200 m of each tower were fairly homogeneous among the tower sites. The main results are as follows: (1) The spatial variability of all RSL turbulent statistics, except the sensible heat flux, was comparable to that reported in a pine forest. Also, the variability decreased with increasing friction velocity. (2) The spatial variability of the RSL sensible heat flux was larger than that reported in a pine forest. Also, the variability depended on the time of the day and became larger in the morning. The difference among the sites was well related to the areal fraction of vegetation. (3) The spatial variability of the CL temperature profile depended on the time of the day and became larger in the morning. Nevertheless, the spatial standard deviation of CL temperature was always below 0.7 K. (4) It is suggested that the “warming-up” process in the morning when heat storage is dominant increases the spatial variation of RSL sensible heat flux and CL temperature according to the local properties around each tower and the variation decreases once there is further convective mixing in the midday     

Spatial Variability of Turbulent Fluxes in the Roughness Sublayer of an Even-Aged Pine Forest

The spatial variability of turbulent flow statistics in the roughness sublayer (RSL) of a uniform even-aged 14 m (= h) tall loblolly pine forest was investigated experimentally. Using seven existing walkup towers at this stand, high frequency velocity, temperature, water vapour and carbon dioxide concentrations were measured at 15.5 m above the ground surface from October 6 to 10 in 1997. These seven towers were separated by at least 100m from each other. The objective of this study was to examine whether single tower turbulence statistics measurements represent the flow properties of RSL turbulence above a uniform even-aged managed loblolly pine forest as a best-case scenario for natural forested ecosystems. From the intensive space-time series measurements, it was demonstrated that standard deviations of longitudinal and vertical velocities (_u, _w) and temperature (_T) are more planar homogeneous than their vertical flux of momentum (u_* ²) and sensible heat (H) counterparts. Also, the measured H is more horizontally homogeneous when compared to fluxes of other scalar entities such as CO₂ and water vapour. While the spatial variability in fluxes was significant (>15 %), this unique data set confirmed that single tower measurements represent the canonical structure of single-point RSL turbulence statistics, especially flux-variance relationships. Implications to extending the moving-equilibrium hypothesis for RSL flows are discussed. The spatial variability in all RSL flow variables was not constant in time and varied strongly with spatially averaged friction velocity u_*, especially when u_* was small. It is shown that flow properties derived from two-point temporal statistics such as correlation functions are more sensitive to local variability in leaf area density when compared to single point flow statistics. Specifically, that the local relationship between the reciprocal of the vertical velocity integral time scale (I_w) and the arrival frequency of organized structures (/h) predicted from a mixing-layer theory exhibited dependence on the local leaf area index. The broader implications of these findings to the measurement and modelling of RSL flows are also discussed.     

台站观测环境改变对我国近地面风速观测资料序列的影响

利用中国大陆地区460个气象台站1971-2002年10m高度平均风速资料和2007年台站观测环境综合调查资料,根据环境评分分数、障碍物视宽角等影响地面观测风速的台站环境数据,将气象台站分为五类,分别对平均风速观测记录进行了比较分析。结果表明,全国范围内绝大多数未迁移台站近地面平均风速呈明显的减小趋势,冬季平均风速相对减小的趋势最大、秋季最小;在影响风速观测资料序列的台站观测环境因素中,观测场周围障碍物视宽角最为重要,随着周围障碍物视宽角的增大,风速相对减小的趋势也变得更明显;台站周围障碍物视宽角对年和季平均风速减小趋势的贡献最大,约为三分之一。因此,观测环境变化对地面风速资料序列的影响是不可忽视的重要因素。     

Methodological Considerations Regarding the Measurement of Turbulent Fluxes in the Urban Roughness Sublayer: The Role of Scintillometery

We address some of the methodological challenges associated with the measurement of turbulence and use of scintillometers in the urban roughness sublayer (RSL). Two small-aperture scintillometers were located near the roof interface in a densely urbanized part of Basel, Switzerland, as part of the Basel Urban Boundary-Layer Experiment (BUBBLE) in the summer of 2002. Eddy correlation instruments were co-located near the mid-point of each scintillometer path for data verification purposes. The study presents the first values of the inner length scale of turbulence (l ₀) and the refractive index structure parameter of air for a city and demonstrates the influence of mechanical driven turbulence on dissipation. Comparison of dissipation values determined from the two approaches show large scatter that is possibly due to the spatial inhomogeneity of the turbulence statistics within the RSL. Velocity and temperature spectra display a −2/3 slope in the inertial subrange, although the spectral ratio is less than the theoretical prediction of 4/3 expected for isotropy. Conventional Monin–Obukhov equations used to calculate fluxes from the scintillometer were replaced with urban forms of the equations. The results suggest that the scintillometer may be an appropriate tool for the measurement of sensible heat flux (Q _H ) above the rooftops given a suitable determination of the effective measurement height.     

Influence of a Two-scale Surface Roughness on a Neutral Turbulent Boundary Layer

Flow in the urban boundary layer is strongly influenced by the surface roughness, which is composed principally of isolated buildings or groups of buildings. Previous research has shown that the flow regime depends on the characteristic height of these obstacles (H), and the spacing between them (W). In reality, the urban boundary layer contains roughness elements with a wide range of length scales; in many practical situations these can be classified into large-scale roughness—buildings, or groups of buildings—and small-scale roughness, such as street furniture and elements on the façades and roofs. It is important to understand how the small-scale roughness might modify mass and momentum transfer in the urban boundary layer, but relatively little information is available concerning the potential interaction between large- and small-scale roughness elements in the different flow regimes. This problem has been studied using wind-tunnel experiments, by measuring vertical velocity profiles over a two-dimensional obstacle array, adding small-scale roughness elements to the top of larger parallel square bars. The experiments were performed for different cavity aspect ratios: the results show that the small-scale roughness increases the turbulence intensities and the momentum transfer when the large-scale obstacles are closely packed (H/W > 1) but it has very little effect for more widely-spaced obstacles (H/W < 1).     

Wind Tunnel And Field Measurements Of Turbulent Flow In Forests. Part I: Uniformly Thinned Stands

Many forest management methods alterstand density uniformly. The effectsof such a change on the wind andturbulence regimes in the forest arecritical to a number of processes governingthe stability of the stand and itsmicroclimate. We measured wind speed andturbulence statistics with a Dantec tri-axialhot-film probe in model forests of variousdensities (31–333 trees m^-2), created byremoving whole trees in a regular pattern in awind tunnel, and compared them with similarmeasurements made with propeller anemometers insimilarly thinned plots (156–625 trees ha^-1)within a Sitka spruce stand in Scotland. The results agree well, in general, with measurements made inother such studies with diverse canopy types.The systematic variations with density and verticalleaf-area distribution (which differed betweenwind-tunnel and field trees) in our work can explainmuch of the variability shown in scaled profiles ofbasic turbulence statistics reported in theliterature. The wind tunnel and field results are shown to be in good agreement overalldespite the difference in vertical leaf-areadistribution. Within-canopy and isolated-treedrag coefficients in the wind tunnel showthat tree-scale shelter effects increase astree density increases. The measurements indicatethat turbulence in the canopy is dominated bylarge-scale structures with dimensions of the sameorder as the height of the canopy as found inother studies but suggest that inter-tree spacing also modulates the size of these structures. These structures are associated with the sweeps that dominatemomentum exchange in the canopy and it is thisfact that allows the tri-axial probe to operate sowell despite the relatively narrow range of anglesin which the wind vector is correctly measured. Theratio of streamwise periodicity of these structuresto vorticity thickness varies systematically withtree density in the range 2.7–5.1, which spans theexpected range of 3.5–5 found in a laboratorymixing-layer, suggesting that tree spacing imposes another relevant length scale. This test andothers show that the results are in agreement withthe idea that canopy turbulence resembles that of a mixing layer even though they disagree with, and challenge the linear relationship between, streamwise periodicity andshear length scale presented recently in theliterature. The measurements are also in goodoverall agreement with simple drag models presented recently by other researchers.     

Further Studies Of Atmospheric Turbulence In Layers Near The Surface: Scaling The Tke Budget Above The Roughness Sublayer

The second of two experimental studies of the TKE budget conducted on sites of different roughness is described, and results are compared. The first took place within a shallow layer above a small field of mostly bare, cultivated soil; the second was carried out above a roughness sublayer of significant depth on an extensive plain of tall dry grass. Budget terms observed in the second study were scaled with a modified u which compensated for effects of an unusually large stress gradient and ensured that the _m functions would be collinear. By showing that the modification becomes negligible in smaller gradients, it is demonstrated that in normal conditions, budgets observed above significant roughness sublayers should be normalized by scaling in terms of the unreduced Reynolds stress at the sublayer's upper surface. This procedure is shown to be consistent with the expectation that TKE budgets in layers near the surface all scale in fundamentally the same way.Other findings include: (1) the fact that most _m functions previously reported are not quite collinear is attributed to a type of overspeeding known to affect three-cup anemometers; (2) revised _m functions, collinear and largely free of the effects of overspeeding, are determined from a well-established characteristic of the linear _m relation for the stable case; (3) data that define collinear _m functions can also be represented with single hyperbolic curves; (4) dissipation is found to be 10 to 15% too small to balance total TKE production in unstable and neutral conditions and to decrease with increasing z/L in thestable regime; and (5) new relations for based on the observed behaviour of the dissipation deficit provide an improved closure for the set of equations that express the budget terms as functions of _m and z/L.     

Observations of Boundary-Layer Wind-Tunnel Flow over Isolated Ridges of Varying Steepness and Roughness

Boundary-layer wind-tunnel flow is measured over isolated ridges of varyingsteepness and roughness. The steepness/roughness parameter space is chosento produce flows that range from fully attached to strongly separated. Measurementsshow that maximum speedup at the hill crest is significantly lower than predictedby linear theory and that recovery in the lee of the hill is much slower for stronglyseparated flow over steep terrain. The measurements also show that behaviour ofthe mean and turbulent components of the flow on the downwind side of the ridgeis fundamentally different between separated and non-separated flows. This suggeststhe dominance of much increased turbulence time and length scales in the lee of thehill in association with a production mechanism that scales with the hill length ratherthan the proximity to the surface as on the windward side of the hill crest.     

Large-Eddy Simulation of Windbreak Flow

A large-eddy simulation has been performed of turbulent flow around multiple windbreaks set within a wheat canopy under neutral stability conditions. The simulation is validated against a wind tunnel data set taken under similar conditions. Velocity profiles and second-order statistics are presented and compared to those found in the wind tunnel. From the numerical simulation, we discuss spatial distributions of instantaneous velocity fields and pressure statistics, which are important and telling features of the flow that are difficult to measure experimentally. We present a discussion of the momentum balance at various locations with respect to the windbreak, and similarly, we introduce the budget of a passive scalar. These discussions show the importance of the terms in each budget equation as they vary upstream and downstream of the windbreak.     

Large-Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Flow Over a Rough Surface

A family of wall models is proposed that exhibits moresatisfactory performance than previousmodels for the large-eddy simulation (LES) of the turbulentboundary layer over a rough surface.The time and horizontally averaged statistics such asmean vertical profiles of windvelocity, Reynolds stress, turbulent intensities, turbulentkinetic energy and alsospectra are compared with wind-tunnel experimental data.The purpose of the present study is to obtain simulatedturbulent flows that are comparable with wind-tunnelmeasurements for use as the wind environment for thenumerical prediction by LES of source dispersion in theneutral atmospheric boundary layer.