Numerical Simulation of the Flow Field and Pollutant Dispersion around a Hill under Different Thermal Stratifications

Abstract

AbstractThis paper applied a commercial computational fluid dynamics code, STAR-CD, with the renormalization group k–ε turbulence model to simulate the flow and dispersion of contaminants released from a source on the windward side of a hill under different thermal stratifications. In the wake region, the influence of atmospheric stratification on the flow field is inconspicuous under neutral and unstable conditions because of the effect of mechanical disturbance. However, this influence becomes slightly conspicuous under stable conditions. When atmospheric stratification is stable, in the range of z/H < 1.0 (where z is height above the surface and H is height of the hill), the velocity deficits are smaller than those under neutral and unstable conditions. The maximum turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) appears in the wake regions, and the variation in TKE is significantly lower than that under neutral and unstable conditions. When atmospheric stratification is unstable, the vertical and horizontal spread of the plume is slightly greater than that under neutral and stable conditions and the maximum concentration is less than that under neutral conditions. When the Froude number is large (~11; Brunt–Väisälä frequency = 0.52), atmospheric stratification is slightly stable, the structure of flow around the hill is generally similar to that under neutral conditions, and the high-concentration regions are large on the windward side of the hill. Smaller high-concentration regions just appear on the windward side of the hill under unstable conditions. The pollutant concentrations in the wake region of the hill increase as a result of the effect of thermal stability, and the vertical spreading range of the plume along the downwind axis (x axis) is larger than that under neutral and stable conditions.