Atmospheric Large-eddy Simulation Research Articles

Implementation of a generalized actuator disk wind turbine model into the weather research and forecasting model for large-eddy simulation applications

A generalized actuator disk (GAD) wind turbine parameterization designed for large-eddy simulation (LES) applications was implemented into the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. WRF-LES with the GAD model enables numerical investigation of the effects of an operating wind turbine on and interactions with a broad range of atmospheric boundary layer phenomena. Numerical simulations using WRF-LES with the GAD model were compared with measurements obtained from the Turbine Wake and Inflow Characterization Study (TWICS-2011), the goal of which was to measure both the inflow to and wake from a 2.3-MW wind turbine. Data from a meteorological tower and two light-detection and ranging (lidar) systems, one vertically profiling and another operated over a variety of scanning modes, were utilized to obtain forcing for the simulations, and to evaluate characteristics of the simulated wakes. Simulations produced wakes with physically consistent rotation and velocity deficits. Two surface heat flux values of 20 W m−2 and 100 W m−2 were used to examine the sensitivity of the simulated wakes to convective instability. Simulations using the smaller heat flux values showed good agreement with wake deficits observed during TWICS-2011, whereas those using the larger value showed enhanced spreading and more-rapid attenuation. This study demonstrates the utility of actuator models implemented within atmospheric LES to address a range of atmospheric science and engineering applications. Validated implementation of the GAD in a numerical weather prediction code such as WRF will enable a wide range of studies related to the interaction of wind turbines with the atmosphere and surface.

Reynolds number dependence of turbulence statistics in the wake of wind turbines

ABSTRACTA wind tunnel experiment has been performed to quantify the Reynolds number dependence of turbulence statistics in the wake of a model wind turbine. A wind turbine was placed in a boundary layer flow developed over a smooth surface under thermally neutral conditions. Experiments considered Reynolds numbers on the basis of the turbine rotor diameter and the velocity at hub height, ranging fromRe = 1.66 × 104to 1.73 × 105. Results suggest that main flow statistics (mean velocity, turbulence intensity, kinematic shear stress and velocity skewness) become independent of Reynolds number starting fromRe ≈ 9.3 × 104. In general, stronger Reynolds number dependence was observed in the near wake region where the flow is strongly affected by the aerodynamics of the wind turbine blades. In contrast, in the far wake region, where the boundary layer flow starts to modulate the dynamics of the wake, main statistics showed weak Reynolds dependence.These results will allow us to extrapolate wind tunnel and computational fluid dynamic simulations, which often are conducted at lower Reynolds numbers, to full‐scale conditions. In particular, these findings motivates us to improve existing parameterizations for wind turbine wakes (e.g. velocity deficit, wake expansion, turbulence intensity) under neutral conditions and the predictive capabilities of atmospheric large eddy simulation models. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Boundary Layer Characteristics over Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Surfaces Simulated by MM5 and DALES

AbstractThe multiple-single-column approach is proposed as a new concept to study the boundary layer parameterization scheme in the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5). The results are compared with the Dutch Atmospheric Large-Eddy Simulation Model (DALES). Numerical experiments were performed over homogeneous and heterogeneous surfaces under clear convective boundary layer conditions. Identical simulations using MM5 and DALES were performed, which enabled an evaluation of the MM5 boundary layer scheme with DALES results. From the experiment with a homogeneous surface, MM5 shows a slightly shallower, colder, and moister boundary layer than DALES. This result is produced by an underestimation of turbulent mixing near the surface and less-vigorous entrainment of heat and dry air in MM5. In the heterogeneous surface experiment, the domain is divided into dry and wet patches, with the result that both models produce a mesoscale circulation. However, relative to the homogeneous case, larger differences were found between the models in the representation of the boundary layer dynamics. In DALES, the surface heterogeneity influenced the turbulent motions, making the mesoscale circulation much stronger (wmax is 6 times as large) than in MM5. Because of this stronger circulation, the boundary layer height, bulk temperature, and humidity also displayed differences in time and spatial patterns. Because of the land–atmosphere coupling in MM5, the mesoscale circulation strengthened the surface flux heterogeneity. Cold and moist air advection close to the surface from the wet patch to the dry patch increased the sensible heat flux above the dry patch and thus the induced mesoscale flow.

Cloud‐aerosol interactions for boundary layer stratocumulus in the Lagrangian Cloud Model

Lagrangian Cloud Model (LCM) is a mixed Eulerian/Lagrangian approach to atmospheric large eddy simulation (LES), with two‐way coupling between Eulerian dynamics and thermodynamics and Lagrangian microphysics. Since Lagrangian representation of microphysics does not suffer from numerical diffusion in the radius space and solves full droplet growth equations, it may be considered an alternative for the bin approach. This paper documents the development of LCM to include collision/coalescence processes. The proposed algorithm maps Lagrangian parcels collision/coalescence events on the specified two‐dimensional grid, with the first dimension spanning aerosol radius and the second dimension spanning the cloud droplet radius. The proposed approach is capable of representation of aerosol activation, deactivation, transport inside the droplets, and processing by clouds and in the future may be used to investigate details of these processes. As an illustration, LCM with collision/coalescence is used to investigate effects of aerosols on cloud microphysics and dynamics for a marine stratocumulus cloud. Two extreme cases are considered that represent low and high aerosol concentrations. It is shown that the aerosol type significantly affects cloud microphysics as well as cloud dynamics. In agreement with previous studies, a larger entrainment rate is simulated for the high aerosol concentration. For the low aerosol concentration, intense collision/coalescence and drizzle modify the aerosol size distribution, reducing the concentration in the dry radius range of 0.02 to 0.2 μm and increasing the concentration for dry radii larger than 0.3 μm.

Formulation of the Dutch Atmospheric Large-Eddy Simulation (DALES) and overview of its applications

Abstract. The current version of the Dutch Atmospheric Large-Eddy Simulation (DALES) is presented. DALES is a large-eddy simulation code designed for studies of the physics of the atmospheric boundary layer, including convective and stable boundary layers as well as cloudy boundary layers. In addition, DALES can be used for studies of more specific cases, such as flow over sloping or heterogeneous terrain, and dispersion of inert and chemically active species. This paper contains an extensive description of the physical and numerical formulation of the code, and gives an overview of its applications and accomplishments in recent years.

Variability of Local Structure Parameters in the Convective Boundary Layer

Abstract The propagation of optical and acoustical waves is affected by the atmospheric turbulence through the local instantaneous refractive index structure parameter in a volume of characteristic size r, denoted Cn,r2. Often r is well within the inertial–convective range. In this study, a large-eddy simulation (LES) of spatial resolution Δ is used to analyze the distribution of Cn,Δ2 in the convective boundary layer. The local formulation used to calculate Cn,Δ2 is described and is found to back up the subgrid parameterization of atmospheric LES. The mean vertical profile behaves according to the mixed layer similarity theory. The spatial organization relates to the presence of buoyant ascending plumes. This structure is associated with some bimodal probability density functions of the inertial–convective range variables, in agreement with experimental results. The standard model of jointly lognormal statistics is challenged. The intermittency of these variables is characterized, and its inertial–convective range component quantitatively agrees with experimental estimates. The present LES results are used to document the bias produced by averaging the dissipation rates of TKE and temperature variance to estimate the average structure parameters. Comparing with nonconvective turbulence measurements, the bias for CT,r2 is found to depend on the stability. A physical explanation is offered that emphasizes the role of the large-scale turbulence under convective conditions.

Stochastic subgrid modelling for atmospheric large eddy simulations

Dynamical subgrid scale parameterizations of stochastic backscatter and eddy dissipation have been calculated for typical atmospheric turbulent flows on the sphere. A methodology based on a stochastic model representation of the subgrid scale eddies in direct numerical simulations, and with wide applicability to fluid flows, has been employed. Large eddy simulations incorporating these subgrid scale parameterizations are found to have energy spectra that compare closely with the results of higher resolution direct numerical simulations for both barotropic and baroclinic turbulent flows. References O'Kane, T.J. and J.S. Frederiksen, Statistical dynamical subgrid-scale parameterizations for geophysical flows, Physica Scripta , 78 , 2008, in press. Frederiksen, J.S., Subgrid-scale parameterizations of eddy-topographic force, eddy viscosity, and stochastic backscatter for flow over topography, J. Atmos. Sci. 56 , 1999, 1481--1494. 2.0.CO;2>doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1999)056 2.0.CO;2 Frederiksen, J.S., and A.G. Davies, Eddy viscosity and stochastic backscatter parameterizations on the sphere for atmospheric circulation models, J. Atmos. Sci. , 54 , 1997, 2475--2492. 2.0.CO;2>doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1997)054 2.0.CO;2 Frederiksen, J.S. and S.M. Kepert, Dynamical subgrid-scale parameterizations from direct numerical simulations, J. Atmos. Sci. , 63 , 2006, 3006--3019. doi:10.1175/JAS3795.1 Frederiksen, J.S. and M.R. Dix and A.G. Davies, The effects of closure-based eddy diffusion on the climate and spectra of a GCM, Tellus A , 55 , 2003, 31--44. doi:10.1034/j.1600-0870.2003.201329.x

Structure of subfilter-scale fluxes in the atmospheric surface layer with application to large-eddy simulation modelling

In the atmospheric surface layer, the wavelength of the peak in the vertical velocity spectrum $\Lambda_w$ decreases with increasing stable stratification and proximity to the surface and this dependence constrains our ability to perform high-Reynolds-number large-eddy simulation (LES). Near the ground, the LES filter cutoff $\Delta_f$ is comparable to or larger than $\Lambda_w$ and as a result the subfilter-scale (SFS) fluxes in LES are always significant and their contribution to the total flux grows with increasing stability. We use the three-dimensional turbulence data collected during the Horizontal Array Turbulence Study (HATS) field program to construct SFS fluxes and variances that are modelled in LES codes. Detailed analysis of the measured SFS motions shows that the ratio $\Lambda_w/\Delta_f$ contains the essential information about stratification, vertical distance above the surface, and filter size, and this ratio allows us to connect measurements of SFS variables with LES applications. We find that the SFS fluxes and variances collapse reasonably well for atmospheric conditions and filter widths in the range $\Lambda_w/\Delta_f = [0.2,15]$ . The SFS variances are anisotropic and the SFS energy is non-inertial, exhibiting a strong dependence on the stratification, large-scale shear, and proximity to the surface. SFS flux decomposition into modified-Leonard, cross-, and Reynolds terms illustrates that these terms are of comparable magnitude and scale content at large $\Lambda_w/\Delta_f$ . As $\Lambda_w/\Delta_f \rightarrow 0$ , the SFS flux approaches the-ensemble-average flux and is dominated by the Reynolds term. Backscatter of energy from the SFS motions to the resolved fields is small in the bulk of the surface layer, less than 20% for $\Lambda_w/\Delta_{f} . A priori testing of typical SFS models using the HATS dataset shows that the turbulent kinetic energy and Smagorinsky model coefficients $C_k$ and $C_s$ depend on $\Lambda_w/\Delta_f$ and are smaller than theoretical estimates based on the assumption of a sharp spectral cutoff filter in the inertial range. $C_k$ and $C_s$ approach zero for small $\Lambda_w/\Delta_f$ . Much higher correlations between measured and modelled SFS fluxes are obtained with a mixed SFS model that explicitly includes the modified-Leonard term. The eddy-viscosity model coefficients still retain a significant dependence on $\Lambda_w/\Delta_f$ with the mixed model. A dissipation model of the form $\epsilon = C_\epsilon E_s^{3/2}/\Delta_f$ is not universal across the range of $\Lambda_w/\Delta_f$ typical of atmospheric LES applications. The inclusion of a shear-stability-dependent length scale (Canuto & Cheng 1997) captures a large fraction of the variation in the eddy-viscosity and dissipation model coefficients.