Neutral Atmospheric Surface Layer Research Articles

Robust relation of streamwise velocity autocorrelation in atmospheric surface layers based on an autoregressive moving average model

We construct an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model consisting of the history and random effects for the streamwise velocity fluctuation in boundary-layer turbulence. The distance to the wall and the boundary-layer thickness determine the time step and the order of the ARMA model, respectively. Based on the autocorrelation's analytical expression of the ARMA model, we obtain a global analytical expression for the second-order structure function, which asymptotically captures the inertial, dynamic and large-scale ranges. Specifically, the exponential autocorrelation of the ARMA model arises from the autoregressive coefficients and is modified to logarithmic behaviour by the moving-average coefficients. The asymptotic expressions enable us to determine model coefficients by existing parameters, such as the Kolmogorov and the Townsend–Perry constants. A consequent double-log expression for the characteristic length scale is derived and is justified by direct numerical simulation data with $Re_\tau \approx 5200$ and field-measured neutral atmospheric surface layer data with $Re_\tau \sim O(10^6)$ from the Qingtu Lake Observation Array site. This relation is robust because it applies to $Re_\tau$ from $O(10^4)$ to $O(10^6)$ , and even when the statistics of natural ASL deviate from those of canonical boundary-layer turbulence, e.g. in the case of imbalance in energy production and dissipation, and when the Townsend–Perry constant deviates from traditional values.

RANS simulation of a wind turbine wake in the neutral atmospheric pressure-driven boundary layer

Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations of a single wind turbine wake in the neutral atmospheric pressure-driven boundary layer (PDBL) are conducted and compared to RANS simulations with inflow based on the more traditional log-law. The latter is valid in the neutral atmospheric surface layer (ASL), while the PDBL is a better representation of the whole atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). It is found that the wake results of the two types of simulations become more similar for increasing ABL height to rotor diameter ratio. In fact, the ASL is shown to be a special asymptotic case of the PDBL. The RANS simulations are also compared to a large-eddy simulation (LES) PDBL case, where it is found that both the ASL and PDBL RANS simulations compare well with the reference LES data in the wake region, while the RANS PDBL compares better with the data in the upper region of the domain.

Evaluation of two common source estimation measurement strategies using large-eddy simulation of plume dispersion under neutral atmospheric conditions

Abstract. This study uses large-eddy simulations (LESs) to evaluate two widely used observational techniques that estimate point source emissions. We evaluate the use of car measurements perpendicular to the wind direction and the commonly used Other Test Method 33A (OTM 33A). The LES study simulates a plume from a point source released into a stationary, homogeneous, and neutral atmospheric surface layer over flat terrain. This choice is motivated by our ambition to validate the observational methods under controlled conditions where they are expected to perform well since the sources of uncertainties are minimized. Three plumes with different release heights were sampled in a manner that mimics sampling according to car transects and the stationary OTM 33A. Subsequently, source strength estimates are compared to the true source strength used in the simulation. Standard deviations of the estimated source strengths decay proportionally to the inverse of the square root of the number of averaged transects, showing statistical independence of individual samples. The analysis shows that for the car transect measurements at least 15 repeated measurement series need to be averaged to obtain a source strength within 40 % of the true source strength. For the OTM 33A analysis, which recommends measurements within 200 m of the source, the estimates of source strengths have similar values close to the source, which is caused by insufficient dispersion of the plume by turbulent mixing close to the source. Additionally, the derived source strength is substantially overestimated with OTM 33A. This overestimation is driven by the proposed OTM 33A dispersion coefficients, which are too large for this specific case. This suggests that the conditions under which the OTM 33A dispersion constants were derived were likely influenced by motions with length scales beyond the scale of the surface layer. Lastly, our simulations indicate that, due to wind-shear effects, the position of the time-averaged centerline of the plumes may differ from the plume emission height. This mismatch can be an additional source of error if a Gaussian plume model (GPM) is used to interpret the measurement. In the case of the car transect measurements, a correct source estimate then requires an adjustment of the source height in the GPM.

Investigating Neutral and Stable Atmospheric Surface Layers Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an effective technique for investigating atmospheric processes at a local scale. For example, in near-source atmospheric dispersion applications, the effects of meteorology, air-pollutant sources, and buildings can be included. A prerequisite is to establish realistic atmospheric conditions throughout the computational domain. This work investigates the modeling of the atmospheric surface layer under neutral and stable boundary-layer conditions, respectively. Steady-state numerical solutions of the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations were used, including the k-ε turbulence model. Atmospheric profiles derived from the Cooperative Atmosphere–Surface Exchange Study-99 (Kansas, USA) were used as reference data. The results indicate that the observed profiles of velocity and potential temperature can be reproduced with CFD, while turbulent kinetic energy showed less agreement with the observations. For the stable boundary layer, reasonable agreement of the numerical results with the observations was also obtained for surface layer depth, shear stress, and heat-flux profiles, respectively. The results are discussed in relation to the boundary conditions and sources, and the observation data.

PIV measurement of buffer and logarithmic layers with detached eddies which mimics the neutral atmospheric surface layer

Accurate comprehension of turbulence characteristics in the atmospheric surface layer (ASL) under near neutral conditions, which is a lower part of the atmospheric boundary layer and a very high-Re number flow, is critically required in view of the increasing and broadening use of numerical weather prediction models. The models need to estimate turbulence fluxes of momentum, heat and moisture in the ASL as boundary conditions. On the other hand, observations (Högström 1990, Drobinski et al. 2007) have revealed that the fluxes under near-neutral conditions are often inconsistent with Monin-Obukhof theory, which has been widely used in models. The observations were conducted over flat surfaces with homogeneous roughness, and thus the violation from the theory might not be due to the underlying surface conditions. Thus, aiming to investigate an origin of the violation from the theory, we have carried out a wind tunnel experiment on the logarithmic layer along a smooth flat wall with a larger-scale disturbance, which mimics the near-neutral atmospheric surface layer (Hattori et al. 2010). In the present study, we especially examine a PIV measurement with a long-distance microscope lens to discuss the interaction of turbulences structures between buffer and logarithmic layers, which must give a clue on Reynolds number effects

Gusty wind disturbances and large-scale turbulent structures in the neutral atmospheric surface layer

This study analyzes the contribution of large-scale turbulent structures, including very large-scale and large-scale motions, to the streamwise turbulent kinetic energy and momentum flux in comparison with the contribution of the gusty wind disturbances based on the high-quality data obtained from the field measurements conducted in the near-neutral surface layer. The results of this study denote that the gusty wind disturbances contain only a portion of the energy contained in very large-scale motions and do not contain any of the information contained in large-scale motions. The amount of lost contributions to the streamwise turbulent kinetic energy and momentum flux increases linearly with the friction velocity, eventually becoming 53% and 67%, respectively. This indicates that large-scale turbulent structures (very large-scale motions and large-scale motions) better describe the coherent structures in the atmospheric surface layer when compared with the gusty wind disturbances.

Investigation of the pressure–strain-rate correlation and pressure fluctuations in convective and near neutral atmospheric surface layers

The pressure–strain-rate correlation and pressure fluctuations in convective and near neutral atmospheric surface layers are investigated. Their scaling properties, spectral characteristics, the contributions from the different source terms in the pressure Poisson equation and the effects of the wall are investigated using high-resolution (up to $2048^{3}$) large-eddy simulation fields and through spectral predictions. The pressure–strain-rate correlation was found to have the mixed-layer and surface-layer scaling in the strongly convective and near neutral atmospheric surface layers, respectively. Its apparent surface-layer scaling in the moderately convective surface layer is due to the slow variations of the mixed-layer contribution, and is an inherent problem for single-point statistics in a multi-scale surface layer. In the strongly convective surface layer the pressure spectrum has an approximate $k^{-5/3}$ scaling range for small wavenumbers ($kz\ll 1$) due to the turbulent–turbulent contribution, and does not follow the surface-layer scaling, where $k$ and $z$ are the horizontal wavenumber and the distance from the surface respectively. The pressure–strain-rate cospectrum components have a $k^{-1}$ scaling range, consistent with our prediction using the surface layer parameters. It is dominated by the buoyancy contribution. Thus the anisotropy in the surface layer is due to the energy redistribution caused by the density fluctuations of the large eddies, rather than the turbulent–turbulent (inertial) effects. In the near neutral surface layer, the turbulent–turbulent and rapid contributions are primarily responsible for redistribution of energy from the streamwise velocity component to the vertical and spanwise components, respectively. The pressure–strain-rate cospectra peak near $kz\sim 1$, and have some similarities to those in the strongly convective surface layer for $kz\ll 1$. For the moderately convective surface layer, the pressure–strain-rate cospectra change signs at scales of the order of the Obukhov length, thereby imposing it as a horizontal length scale in the surface layer. This result provides strong support to the multipoint Monin–Obukhov similarity recently proposed by Tong & Nguyen (J. Atmos. Sci., vol. 72, 2015, pp. 4337–4348). We further decompose the pressure into the free-space (infinite domain), the wall reflection and the harmonic contributions. In the strongly convective surface layer, the free-space contribution to the pressure–strain-rate correlation is dominated by the buoyancy part, and is the main cause of the surface-layer anisotropy. The wall reflection enhances the anisotropy for most of the surface layer, suggesting that the pressure source has a large coherence length. In the near neutral surface layer, the wall reflection is small, suggesting a much smaller source coherence length. The present study also clarifies the understanding of the role of the turbulent–turbulent pressure, and has implications for understanding the dynamics and structure as well as modelling the atmospheric surface layer.

Large-scale coherent structures of suspended dust concentration in the neutral atmospheric surface layer: A large-eddy simulation study

Dust particles can remain suspended in the atmospheric boundary layer, motions of which are primarily determined by turbulent diffusion and gravitational settling. Little is known about the spatial organizations of suspended dust concentration and how turbulent coherent motions contribute to the vertical transport of dust particles. Numerous studies in recent years have revealed that large- and very-large-scale motions in the logarithmic region of laboratory-scale turbulent boundary layers also exist in the high Reynolds number atmospheric boundary layer, but their influence on dust transport is still unclear. In this study, numerical simulations of dust transport in a neutral atmospheric boundary layer based on an Eulerian modeling approach and large-eddy simulation technique are performed to investigate the coherent structures of dust concentration. The instantaneous fields confirm the existence of very long meandering streaks of dust concentration, with alternating high- and low-concentration regions. A strong negative correlation between the streamwise velocity and concentration and a mild positive correlation between the vertical velocity and concentration are observed. The spatial length scales and inclination angles of concentration structures are determined, compared with their flow counterparts. The conditionally averaged fields vividly depict that high- and low-concentration events are accompanied by a pair of counter-rotating quasi-streamwise vortices, with a downwash inside the low-concentration region and an upwash inside the high-concentration region. Through the quadrant analysis, it is indicated that the vertical dust transport is closely related to the large-scale roll modes, and ejections in high-concentration regions are the major mechanisms for the upward motions of dust particles.

Experimental investigation of turbulent transport of momentum and heat in the atmospheric surface layer

In our study, turbulent transport of momentum and heat is investigated in the neutral and unstable atmospheric surface layer (ASL) over the edge of a desert. Our results reveal that with the increase of wind speed the transport efficiencies for momentum and heat increased, furthermore, transport efficiency of momentum increases faster than that of heat. In addition, the method of quadrant analysis and turbulent events were used to analyze the moment flux and heat flux. Experimental results show that the influence of wind speed on moment flux and heat flux can be quite different, which maybe has a great impact on the turbulent transport of momentum and heat in ASL.

On dust concentration profile above an area source in a neutral atmospheric surface layer

The power law and logarithmic law among others are the most commonly well-known theories for equilibrium mean profile of dust concentration in a neutral atmospheric surface layer. However, these theories are based on the assumption of homogeneity in horizontal (streamwise) direction, thereby the horizontal advection term in the transport equation is neglected. In this study, with the help of a self-similar analytical solution of the two-dimensional steady-state dust transport equation (Chamecki and Meneveau, J Fluid Mech 683:1–26, 2011), we examine the applicabilities of the assumption which the one-dimensional theories are based on. In addition, we also propose an empirical fit of the theory, and good agreements with reference data have been obtained. The new approximate profile can be used as an alternative of the one-dimensional theories in practical applications.

Particle Dispersion in the Neutral Atmospheric Surface Layer

We address theoretically the longstanding problem of particle dispersion in the lower atmosphere. The evolution of particle concentration under an absorbing boundary condition at the ground is described. We derive a close-form solution for the downwind surface density of deposited particles and find how the number of airborne particles decreases with time. The problem of the plume formation above the extended surface source is also solved analytically. At the end, we show how turbophoresis modifies the mean settling velocity of particles.

Coherent Structures and the Dissimilarity of Turbulent Transport of Momentum and Scalars in the Unstable Atmospheric Surface Layer

Atmospheric stability effects on the dissimilarity between the turbulent transport of momentum and scalars (water vapour and temperature) are investigated in the neutral and unstable atmospheric surface layers over a lake and a vineyard. A decorrelation of the momentum and scalar fluxes is observed with increasing instability. Moreover, different measures of transport efficiency (correlation coefficients, efficiencies based on quadrant analysis and bulk transfer coefficients) indicate that, under close to neutral conditions, momentum and scalars are transported similarly whereas, as the instability of the atmosphere increases, scalars are transported increasingly more efficiently than momentum. This dissimilarity between the turbulent transport of momentum and scalars under unstable conditions concurs with, and is likely caused by, a change in the topology of turbulent coherent structures. Previous laboratory and field studies report that under neutral conditions hairpin vortices and hairpin packets are present and dominate the vertical fluxes, while under free-convection conditions thermal plumes are expected. Our results (cross-stream vorticity variation, quadrant analysis and time series analysis) are in very good agreement with this picture and confirm a change in the structure of the coherent turbulent motions under increasing instability, although the exact structure of these motions and how they are modified by stability requires further investigation based on three-dimensional flow data.

Intermittency in the atmospheric surface layer: Unresolved or slowly varying?

We present streamwise velocity structure functions 〈 δ v L ( τ ) 〉 = 〈 | v ( t + τ ) − v ( t ) | p 〉 (with p = 1 : 5 ) obtained in the near neutral atmospheric surface layer at the Utah SLTEST site at the highest terrestrial Reynolds number R e τ = O ( 10 6 ) . We show that the occurrence of very large scale coherent oscillations in the streamwise velocity throughout the wall region, interpreted as genuine structural features of the canonical turbulent boundary layer, affects the scaling exponents of the p > 3 order structure functions. This results in a slight alteration of the intermittent behavior of the velocity field. It was found that for positive (fast) large scale oscillation of the low-pass filtered velocity signal, deviations from the Kolmogorov K41 prediction (absence of multiscaling) are more marked, as compared to negative (slow) excursion. The results are discussed in terms of convergence of statistics from atmospheric boundary layer measurements.

J0503-1-4 メソ気象モデルWRFのラージ・エディ・シミュレーションによる中立大気接地層乱流構造の再現性検討(風力発電(1))

J0503-1-4 メソ気象モデルWRFのラージ・エディ・シミュレーションによる中立大気接地層乱流構造の再現性検討(風力発電(1))

Turbulence Anisotropy Carried by Streaks in the Neutral Atmospheric Surface Layer

Abstract The authors investigate the relationships between coherent structures and turbulence anisotropy in the neutral planetary boundary layer by means of empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of large-eddy simulation (LES) data. The simulated flow contains near-surface transient streaks. The EOF analysis extracts the most energetic patterns from the velocity fluctuations based on their second-order spatial correlations. The scale and direction of streaks obtained from a level-by-level analysis of the LES flow field do correspond to that of the EOFs. It is found that two characteristics of the turbulence anisotropy depend on whether or not the velocity fluctuations with a given horizontal wave vector present distinct patterns: (i) the vertical extent up to which the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) is concentrated and (ii) the ratio of the vertical TKE EV to the horizontal TKE EH. Although still present in the complete signal, this anisotropy is strongly emphasized when the signal is projected onto the EOF structures. Hence the coherent structures do indeed carry more anisotropy than the remaining turbulent fluctuations. Furthermore, at horizontal wave vectors where energetic patterns are dominant, the ratio EV/EH takes values close to 0.2, representative of the ratio EV/EH based on the total LES flow and on in situ measurements.

Numerical Study of the Response of an Atmospheric Surface Layer to a Spatially Nonuniform Plant Canopy

High-accuracy large-eddy simulations of neutral atmospheric surface-layer flow over a gapped plant canopy strip have been performed. Subgrid-scale (SGS) motions are parameterized by the Sagaut mixed length SGS model, with a modification to compute the SGS characteristic length self-adaptively. Shaw’s plant canopy model, taking the vertical variation of leaf area density into account, is applied to study the response of the atmospheric surface layer to the gapped dense forest strip. Differences in the region far away from the gap and in the middle of the gap are investigated, according to the instantaneous velocity magnitude, the zero-plane displacement, the potential temperature and the streamlines. The large-scale vortex structure, in the form of a roll vortex, is revealed in the region far away from the gap. The nonuniform spatial distribution of plants appears to cause the formation of the coherent structure. The roll vortex starts in the wake of the canopy, and results in strong fluctuations throughout the entire canopy region. Wind sweeps and ejections in the plant canopy are also attributed to the large vortex structure.

Numerical and Experimental Investigation of the Neutral Atmospheric Surface Layer

AbstractThis study combines the experimental measurements with large-eddy simulation (LES) data of a neutral planetary boundary layer (PBL) documented by a 60-m tower instrumented with eight sonic anemometers, and a high-resolution Doppler lidar during the 1999 Cooperative Atmospheric and Surface Exchange Study (CASES-99) experiment. The target of the paper is (i) to investigate the multiscale nature of the turbulent eddies in the surface layer (SL), (ii) to explain the existence of a −1 power law in the velocity fluctuation spectra, and (iii) to investigate the different nature of turbulence in the two sublayers within the SL, which are the eddy surface layer (ESL; lower sublayer of the SL lying between the surface and about 20-m height) and the shear surface layer (SSL; lying between the ESL top and the SL top). The sonic anemometers and Doppler lidar prove to be proper instruments for LES validation, and in particular, the Doppler lidar because of its ability to map near-surface eddies.This study shows the different nature of turbulence in the ESL and the SSL in terms of organized eddies, velocity fluctuation spectra, and second-order moment statistics. If quantitative agreement is found in the SSL between the LES and the measurements, only qualitative similarity is found in the ESL due to the subgrid-scale model, indicating that the LES captures part of the physics of the ESL. The LES helps explain the origin of the −1 power-law spectral subrange evidence in the velocity fluctuation spectra computed in the SL using the CASES-99 dataset: strong interaction between the mean flow and the fluctuating vorticities is found in the SL, and turbulent production is found to be larger than turbulent energy transfer for k1z > 1 (k1 being the longitudinal wavenumber and z the height), which is the condition of the −1 power-law existence.

Attached Eddies and Production Spectra in the Atmospheric Logarithmic Layer

We investigate the production components of turbulent spectra within logarithmic layers over flat ground. This assumes that the turbulence giving rise to these spectra consists of active coherent structures (eddies) that are attached to the ground, and whose properties display perfect statistical self-similarity under inner scaling. That is, we take the extreme view that active coherent structures not only contribute to turbulence production spectra but explain the whole of them, so that neither detached eddies nor unstructured motions make any significant contribution. Perfect self-similarityis held to apply only to eddies that are themselves formed totally within the log layer, so the theory applies in the limit of spectra obtained at the hearts of very deep log layers. The model predicts that spectral variance and covariance should become independent of wavenumber at small wavenumbers. This asymptotic behaviour is observed in all neutral spectra from the Kansas experiment. The model also interprets the various positions of the spectral peaks observed at Kansas and in aircraft flights over the sea as consequences of the eddies being aggregated into files aligned with the wind. The observed spectra are therefore consistent with large-scale wedge-like structures being the principal component of active turbulence in the neutral atmospheric surface layer.

A Note on Velocity Spectra in the Marine Boundary Layer

Spectra of longitudinal and vertical velocity have been studied at a marine site, ostergarnsholm, in the Baltic Sea during a period of six days with near-neutral or slightly unstable conditions, when the wave state gradually changed from pure wind sea to strong swell having approximately the same direction as the wind. During the pure wind sea phase, spectra are shown to adhere closely to general forms for the neutral atmospheric surface layer obtained from a new theory. As soon as the wave age goes slightly beyond that representative of pure wind sea conditions, the spectra deviate in shape from the ‘ideal’ forms. The spectral modification appears to start at a frequency typical of the swell component. As the wave age increases, it progresses in frequency as a downscale cascade, which is particularly prominent in the spectrum of the vertical component but which is also observed in the longitudinal component. In addition, there is a strong effect in the low-frequency part of the spectra. It is interpreted as an indirect effect of large-scale ‘inactive’ turbulence, which becomes progressively more important as wave-age increases. It is found that the ratio of the spectrum of the vertical component and the spectrum of the corresponding longitudinal component attains the theoretically predicted value of 4/3 for cases of developing sea (gale force wind) for frequencies above approximately 4 Hz but never much exceeds unity for cases with swell. It is argued that this is an indication of local anisotropy and that the inertial-dissipation method for determination of the momentum flux is inappropriate in the case of mixed seas or swell.

Spectral models for the neutral atmospheric surface layer

Measurements of atmospheric turbulence spectra and cospectra at low heights in a rural atmospheric surface layer are presented. These show that at low frequencies the streamwise and transverse spectral densities vary in proportion to the square of the mean velocity. It is also shown that in the inertial sub-range the data is well matched by the Kolmogorov law with the Kolmogorov constant invariant with height. At intermediate frequencies the data exhibit spectral power-law regions with exponents that decrease with height. Spectral models are proposed which closely match these observed behaviours.