Sensitivity Of Large-eddy Simulation Research Articles

The Sensitivity of Large Eddy Simulations to Grid Resolution in Tropical Cyclone High Wind Area Applications

The question of at what resolution the large eddy simulations (LESs) of a tropical cyclone (TC) high wind area may converge largely remains unanswered. To address this issue, LESs with five resolutions of 300 m, 100 m, 60 m, 33 m, and 20 m are performed in this study to simulate a high wind area near the radius of maximum wind of Typhoon Chanthu (2021) using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The results show that, for a limited area LES, model grid resolution may alter the local turbulence structure to generate significantly different extreme values of temperature, moisture, and winds, but it only has a marginal impact on the median values of these variables throughout the vertical column. All simulations are able to capture the turbulent roll vortices in the TC boundary layer, but the structure and intensity of the rolls vary substantially in different resolution simulations. Local hectometer-scale eddies with vertical velocities exceeding 10 m s−1 are only observed in the 20 m resolution simulation but not in the coarser resolution simulations. The ratio of the resolved turbulent momentum fluxes and turbulent kinetic energies (TKEs) to the total momentum fluxes and TKEs appears to show some convergence of LESs when the grid resolution reaches 100 m or finer, suggesting that it is an acceptable grid resolution for LES applications in TC simulations.

Sensitivity of large eddy simulations of tropical cyclone to sub-grid scale mixing parameterization

The surface wind structure and vertical turbulent transport processes in the eyewall of hurricane Isabel (2003) are investigated using six large-eddy simulations (LESs) with different horizontal grid spacing and three-dimensional (3D) sub-grid scale (SGS) turbulent mixing models and a convection permitting simulation that uses a coarser grid spacing and one-dimensional vertical turbulent mixing scheme. The mean radius-height distribution of storm tangential wind and radial flow, vertical velocity structure, and turbulent kinetic energy and momentum fluxes in the boundary layer generated by LESs are consistent with those derived from historical dropsonde composites, Doppler radar, and aircraft measurements. Unlike the convection permitting simulation that produces storm wind fields lacking small-scale disturbances, all LESs are able to produce sub-kilometer and kilometer scale eddy circulations in the eyewall. The inter-LES differences generally reduce with the decrease of model grid spacing. At 100-m horizontal grid spacing, the vertical momentum fluxes induced by the model-resolved eddies and the associated eddy exchange coefficients in the eyewall simulated by the LESs with different 3D SGS mixing schemes are fairly consistent. Although with uncertainties, the decomposition in terms of eddy scales suggests that sub-kilometer eddies are mainly responsible for the vertical turbulent transport within the boundary layer (~1 km depth following the conventional definition) whereas eddies greater than 1 km become the dominant contributors to the vertical momentum transport above the boundary layer in the eyewall. The strong dependence of vertical turbulent transport on eddy scales suggests that the vertical turbulent mixing parameterization in mesoscale simulations of tropical cyclones is ultimately a scale-sensitive problem.

Sensitivity analysis of LES–CMC predictions of piloted jet flames

The sensitivity of Large Eddy Simulation with Conditional Moment Closure (LES–CMC) simulations of the Sandia piloted jet Flames D and F to various parameters have been investigated. It was found that while an LES grid may sufficiently resolve velocity fields, the conditional scalar dissipation rate obtained may still be affected by grid size due to the calculation of sub-grid scalar dissipation rate, and this can affect the degree of localised extinction predicted. A study of the relative size of the terms in the CMC equation during an extinction/reignition event showed that transport, including in the cross stream direction, plays a key role. The results are sensitive to the choice of inlet boundary conditions as extinction is only observed when the inert-mixing distributions in mixture fraction space are used as inlet conditions for the CMC equation in the primary jet and air jets.

The Role of the Combustion Submodel for Large Eddy Simulation of Transient Premixed Flame-Vortex Interactions in Gas Explosions

In this paper, the sensitivity of large eddy simulation (LES) to the presence of the combustion submodel was investigated for transient interactions between premixed flame fronts and toroidal vortex structures generated at the wake of a circular orifice. To this end, LES computations were run, with and without the combustion submodel, for two orifice diameters: 40 mm and 20 mm. Nonuniform unstructured grids with a cell characteristic length varying in the range of 0.5-1 mm were used. In going from the 40-mm orifice to the 20-mm orifice, both the size and velocity of the vortex increase, leading to a different regime of interaction with the flame: the vortex only wrinkles the flame front in the 40-mm case (wrinkled regime) and also disrupts the continuity of the front, giving rise to the formation of separate reaction zones (i.e., flame pockets that leave the main front), in the 20-mm case (breakthrough regime). It has been found that the impact of the combustion submodel on LES predictions is strongly dependent on the regime of interaction. Results for the 40-mm orifice are substantially the same, regardless of the presence of the combustion submodel. Conversely, at the wake of the 20-mm orifice, the intensity of the flame-vortex interaction is such that the combustion submodel is strictly needed to reproduce both the qualitative (evolution of the pockets formed and their interaction with the main front) and quantitative (flame speed) characteristics of the flame propagation correctly.

Sensitivity to the Presence of the Combustion Submodel for Large Eddy Simulation of Transient Premixed Flame–Vortex Interactions

In this paper, the sensitivity of large eddy simulation (LES) to the presence of the combustion submodel was investigated for transient interactions between premixed flame fronts and toroidal vortex structures generated at the wake of a circular orifice. To this end, LES computations were run, with and without the combustion submodel, for two orifice diameters: 40 mm and 20 mm. Nonuniform unstructured grids with a cell characteristic length varying in the range of 0.5–1 mm were used. In going from the 40-mm orifice to the 20-mm orifice, both the size and velocity of the vortex increase, leading to a different regime of interaction with the flame: the vortex only wrinkles the flame front in the 40-mm case (wrinkled regime) and also disrupts the continuity of the front, giving rise to the formation of separate reaction zones (i.e., flame pockets that leave the main front), in the 20-mm case (breakthrough regime). It has been found that the impact of the combustion submodel on LES predictions is strongly dep...

Application of Dynamic Subgrid-scale Models for Large-eddy Simulation of the Daytime Convective Boundary Layer over Heterogeneous Surfaces

The sensitivity of large-eddy simulation (LES) to the representation of subgrid-scale (SGS) processes is explored for the case of the convective boundary layer (CBL) developing over surfaces with varying degrees of spatial heterogeneity. Three representations of SGS processes are explored: the traditional constant Smagorinsky–Lilly model and two other dynamic models with Lagrangian averaging approaches to calculate the Smagorinsky coefficient (C S ) and SGS Prandtl number (Pr). With initial data based roughly on the observed meteorology, simulations of daytime CBL growth are performed over surfaces with characteristics (i.e. fluxes and roughness) ranging from homogeneous, to striped heterogeneity, to a realistic representation of heterogeneity as derived from a recent field study. In both idealized tests and the realistic case, SGS sensitivities are mostly manifest near the surface and entrainment zone. However, unlike simulations over complex domains or under neutral or stable conditions, these differences for the CBL simulation, where large eddies dominate, are not significant enough to distinguish the performance of the different SGS models, irrespective of surface heterogeneity.

The sensitivity of large-eddy simulations of shallow cumulus convection to resolution and subgrid model

The sensitivity of large-eddy simulations of shallow cumulus convection to resolution and subgrid model

The sensitivity of large-eddy simulation of turbulent shear flow to subgrid models

Previous large-eddy simulations of turbulent shear flows have shown significant sensitivity to some aspects of the subgrid-scale turbulence models. In particular, Mason and Thomson (1992) demonstrated a marked improvement in simulations through the inclusion of stochastic stress variations in the subgrid model. Here a series of simulations is presented with a view to exploring the general sensitivity to such a subgrid model and in particular to the size and nature of the stochastic stress variations. The model proposed by Mason and Thomson is found to be fairly satisfactory but some quantitative uncertainty remains.