Observations and Modeling of Heavy Particle Deposition in a Windbreak Flow

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents new observations of deposition of heavy particles (glass beads of gravitational settling velocity 8.7 cm s−1) within an undisturbed flow and within a flow disturbed by a porous windbreak fence. These data are then used to diagnose the capability of a Lagrangian stochastic (LS) particle trajectory model, which simulates heavy particle dispersion. The model is based on existing parameterizations and is coupled to a wind model based on a Reynolds stress turbulence closure that provides computed fields of wind statistics. The deposition rates, as simulated by the model, match the observation within E = 30% of accuracy, with E being the root-mean-square error normalized by the peak value on the deposition swath. These results suggest that the LS model handles properly the heterogeneities of the flow and that the heuristic adjustments made to account for the inertia of heavy particles are useful approximations. The model consequently proves to be a valuable tool to investigate the patterns of dispersion about an obstacle.