Modeling a neutrally stratified turbulent air flow over a horizontal rough surface

The neutrally stratified boundary layer over a smooth rough surface is consider. The turbulent flow is simulated using a finite-difference eddy-resolving model of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). The model includes different turbulence closure schemes and numerical approximations for advection components of the momentum balance equation. We investigate the quality of reproduction of spectral characteristics of the turbulent flow and the model’s capabilities to reproduce the observed profile of mean wind velocity near the rough surface. It is shown that the best result is obtained by coupling a numerical scheme of higher order of accuracy with a mixed closure scheme based on an adaptive estimation of the mixing length for subgrid-scale fluctuations. Here, we are able to reproduce the asymptotics of the fluctuation spectrum of the longitudinal component of wind velocity near the surface and within the boundary layer as well as the logarithmic profile of mean velocity near the surface.