Packet Structure of Surface Eddies in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer

Abstract

A smoke visualization experiment has beenperformed in the first 3,m ofneutral and unstable atmospheric boundary layersat very large Reynolds number(ReΘ > 106). Under neutral atmosphericconditions mean wind profiles agreewell with those in the canonical flatplate zero-pressure-gradient turbulentboundary layer. The experiment was designedto minimize the temperaturedifference between the passive marker (smoke)and the air to ensure that anyobserved structures were due to vortical, ratherthan buoyant, motions. Imagesacquired in the streamwise–wall-normal planeusing a planar laser light-sheetare strikingly similar to those observed inlaboratory experiments at low to moderate Reynolds numbers. They reveal large-scaleramp-like structures withdownstream inclination of 3°–35°.This inclination isinterpreted as the hairpin packet growthangle following the hairpin vortexpacket model ofAdrian, Meinhart, and Tomkins.The distribution of this characteristicangle agrees with the results of experiments at far lower Reynolds numbers,suggesting a similarity in structures among low, moderate, and high Reynoldsnumber boundary layers at vastly different scales. These results indicate thatthe hairpin vortex packet model extends over a large range of scales. Theeffect of vertical heat transport in an unstable atmosphere on wall structuresis investigated in terms of the hairpin vortex packet model.