Flow over the summit of an isolated hill

Abstract

Observations of the mean flow and turbulence statistics over the summit of an isolated, roughly circular hill, Nyland hill, are presented, Nyland hill rises 70 m above the surrounding terrain and has a base diameter of about 500 m. The summit of the hill is very smooth and allows representative measurements to be made close to the surface. The flow speed 8 m above the summit is increased by a factor of 2 over the upstream speed 8 m above level terrain, and flow separation occurs in the lee of the hill. The mean velocity profile over the summit shows an increase in velocity with height up to about 2 m and then a near constant velocity between 2 and 16 m. The flow perturbation relative to the upstream profile is thus a maximum at about 2 m. The measurements of turbulence structure show how the influence of the hill depends on the length scale of the turbulent eddies involved. Scales greater than the scale of the hill are modified through the flow speed-up whilst scales shorter than the hill suffer complex changes. The short-scale turbulence over the summit is only in local equilibrium in the lowest fraction of a metre. Above this equilibrium region, there is a complex adjustment towards the rapid distortion dynamics which appear to dominate at heights above about 8 m. The detailed results are compared with previous studies and available theories.