Turbulence In Atmospheric Boundary Layer Research Articles

Long-term measurement and characterization of boundary layer optical turbulence

The United States Naval Academy long-term scintillation measurement campaign was a multi-year effort to characterize optical turbulence in the near-maritime atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). At its core, the field experiment consists of in situ measurements of bulk atmospheric and oceanographic parameters, as well as path-averaged measurements of the refractive index structure parameter, C n 2, collected using a large-aperture scintillometer. The field experiment ran from January 1st, 2020, through September 26th, 2023, representing the most comprehensive collection of optical turbulence measurements in the near-maritime ABL to date. Long-term measurements enable researchers to evaluate existing theory and develop new models applicable to this environment. The present study characterizes some of the physical relationships that affect optical turbulence. This characterization focuses on the relationship between local optical turbulence and select atmospheric and oceanographic parameters. The impact of temperature gradients on the extent of optical turbulence was analyzed, along with its interactions with relative humidity and wind speed. The diurnal and seasonal variations in measured C n 2 were examined, with comparisons drawn against other environments. Further information and the full dataset are publicly available through the optical turbulence benchmark repository [Jellen et al., GitHub, 2023].

Influence of Foehn Winds of Truong Son Mountains on the High Temperatures Observed in North-Central Vietnam during 31 May–5 June 2017

Abstract North-central Vietnam often experiences high temperatures. Foehn winds originating from the Truong Son Mountains (also known as Laos winds) are believed to contribute to abnormally high temperatures; however, no quantitative research has focused on foehn warming in Vietnam. In this study, we conducted numerical simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model to investigate the contribution of foehn warming to abnormally high temperatures in north-central Vietnam in early June 2017. Generally, May–June is the monsoon period in Vietnam. Consequently, foehn warming during this season is thought to be mainly caused by latent heating and precipitation mechanism. However, the primary factor in the cases covered in this study was foehn warming with an isentropic drawdown mechanism. Diabatic heating with turbulent diffusion and sensible heat flux from mountain slopes also plays significant roles. The warming effect of the foehn winds on the temperatures during the events was approximately 2°–3°C. It was concluded that the high temperature events from 31 May to 5 June 2017 were caused by synoptic-scale warm advection and foehn warming. Sensitivity experiments were conducted on the WRF Model, utilizing three atmospheric boundary layer turbulence schemes (YSU, ACM2, and MYNN), consistently yielding results for simulated temperature and relative humidity. The wind speed bias for the MYNN scheme was found to be lower than that of the other schemes. However, this study did not delve into the underlying reasons for these differences. The optimal performance of each scheme remains an open question. Significance Statement It was hypothesized that north-central Vietnam often experiences high temperatures owing to foehn winds (also known as Laos winds) descending from the Truong Son Mountains. This study conducted numerical experiments to validate this hypothesis and investigate the associated mechanisms of foehn winds in this region. Surprisingly, despite the monsoon season, the isentropic drawdown mechanism without precipitation effects provides the primary explanation for the high temperatures caused by foehn winds in north-central Vietnam, and not the latent heating and precipitation mechanism with precipitation effects that researchers expected. The results of this study contribute to better prediction of high temperatures in this region and improve our understanding of foehn winds in tropical monsoon climate zones.

Polydisperse sea spray effect on the vertical momentum transport in hurricanes

Abstract This study focuses on the influence of the sea spray polydispersity on the vertical transport of momentum in a turbulent marine atmospheric boundary layer in high-wind conditions of a hurricane. The Eulerian multifluid model treating air and spray droplets of different sizes as interacting inter-penetrating continua is developed and its numerical solutions are analyzed. Several droplet size distribution spectra and correlation laws relating wind speed and spray production intensity are considered. Polydisperse model solutions have confirmed the difference between the roles small and large spray droplets play in modifying the turbulent momentum transport that have been previously identified by monodisperse spray models. The obtained results have also provided a physical explanation for the previously unreported phenomenon of the formation of thin low-eddy-viscosity “sliding” layers in strongly turbulent boundary layer flows laden with predominantly fine spray.

Morning transition of the coupled vegetation canopy and atmospheric boundary layer turbulence according to the wind intensity

Abstract Turbulence in canopy plays a crucial role in biosphere-atmosphere exchanges. Traditionally, canopy turbulence has been analyzed under stationary conditions based on atmospheric thermal stability, disregarding the time of the day and the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) depth, although recent studies have suggested that daytime canopy turbulence might be influenced by ABL-scale motions. The morning transition offers an intriguing period when the ABL grows and when an increasing influence of large-scale motions on canopy turbulence might be anticipated. Using large-eddy simulations resolving both canopy and ABL turbulence, we investigate here how the turbulence and exchanges at canopy top change along the morning transition according to the wind intensity. Under significant wind, simulations show that canopy turbulence and exchanges are dominated by mixing-layer-type motions whose characteristics remain constant during the morning transition, even though ABL-scale motions imprint on the canopy’s instantaneous velocity fields as the ABL grows. Under low wind, the canopy turbulence is dominated by plumes, whose horizontal sizes extend with the ABL, while their vertical sizes reach a limit before the morning transition ends. In the early morning, canopy-top exchanges are influenced by sources from both the canopy top and the ABL entrainment zone, explaining some of the dissimilarity in turbulent transport between scalars, apart from the differences in the location of canopy scalar sources. When reaching the residual layer, the ABL grows quicker, with intense water vapour and carbon dioxide exchanges, dominated by large-scale motions penetrating deep within the canopy, releasing into the atmosphere the nocturnal accumulated carbon dioxide.

Wind Profile Retrieval Based on LSTM Algorithm and Mobile Observation of Brightness Temperature over the Tibetan Plateau

Stationary or mobile microwave radiometers (MRs) can measure atmospheric temperature, relative humidity, and water vapor density profiles with high spatio-temporal resolution, but cannot obtain the vertical variations of wind field. Based on a dataset of brightness temperatures (TBs) measured with a mobile MR over the Three-River-Source Region of the Tibetan Plateau from 18 to 30 July 2021, we develop a direct retrieval method for the wind profile (WP) based on the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network technique, and obtain the reliable dynamic variation characteristics of the WP in the region. Furthermore, the ground-based radiative transfer model for TOVS (RTTOV-gb) was employed to validate the reliability of the TB observation, and we analyzed the impact of weather conditions, altitude, observational mode, and TB diurnal variation on the accuracy of the TB measurement and the retrieval of the WP. Results show that the TB from the mobile observation (MOTB) on clear and cloudy days are close to those of the simulated TB with the RTTOV-gb model, while TB measurements on rainy days are far larger than the modeled TBs. When compared with radiosonde observations, the WPs retrieved with the LSTM algorithm are better than the ERA5 reanalysis data, especially below 350 hPa, where the root mean square errors for both wind speed and wind direction are smaller than those of ERA5. The major factors influencing WP retrieval include the weather conditions, altitude, observational mode, and TB diurnal variation. Under clear-sky and cloudy conditions, the LSTM retrieval method can reproduce the spatio-temporal evolution of wind field and vertical wind shear characteristics. The findings of this study help to improve our understanding of meso-scale atmospheric dynamic structures, characteristics of vertical wind shear, atmospheric boundary layer turbulence, and enhance the assessment and forecasting accuracy of wind energy resources.

Measurement-driven large-eddy simulations of a diurnal cycle during a wake-steering field campaign

Abstract. High-fidelity flow modeling with data assimilation enables accurate representation of the wind farm operating environment under realistic, nonstationary atmospheric conditions. Capturing the temporal evolution of the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer is critical to understanding the behavior of wind turbines under operating conditions with simultaneously varying inflow and control inputs. This paper has three parts: the identification of a case study during a field evaluation of wake steering; the development of a tailored mesoscale-to-microscale coupling strategy that resolved local flow conditions within a large-eddy simulation (LES), using observations that did not completely capture the wind and temperature fields throughout the simulation domain; and the application of this coupling strategy to validate high-fidelity aeroelastic predictions of turbine performance and wake interactions with and without wake steering. The case study spans 4.5 h after midnight local time, during which wake steering was toggled on and off five times, achieving yaw offset angles ranging from 0 to 17°. To resolve nonstationary nighttime conditions that exhibited shear instabilities, the turbulence field was evolved starting from the diurnal cycle of the previous day. These background conditions were then used to drive wind farm simulations with two different models: an LES with actuator disk turbines and a steady-state engineering wake model. Subsequent analysis identified two representative periods during which the up- and downstream turbines were most nearly aligned with the mean wind direction and had observed yaw offsets of 0 and 15°. Both periods corresponded to partial waking on the downstream turbine, which had errors in the LES-predicted power of 4 % and 6 %, with and without wake steering. The LES was also able to capture conditions during which an upstream turbine wake induced a speedup at a downstream turbine and increased power production by up to 13 %.

Developing a digital twin framework for wind tunnel testing: validation of turbulent inflow and airfoil load applications

Abstract. Wind energy systems, such as horizontal-axis wind turbines and vertical-axis wind turbines, operate within the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer, where turbulence significantly impacts their efficiency. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the impact of turbulent inflow on the aerodynamic performance at the rotor blade scale. As field investigations are challenging, in this work, we present a framework where we combine wind tunnel measurements in turbulent flow with a digital twin of the experimental set-up. For this, first, the decay of the turbulent inflow needs to be described and simulated correctly. Here, we use Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations with k−ω turbulence models, where a suitable turbulence length scale is required as an inlet boundary condition. While the integral length scale is often chosen without a theoretical basis, this study derives that the Taylor micro-scale is the correct choice for simulating turbulence generated by a regular grid: the temporal decay of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) is shown to depend on the initial value of the Taylor micro-scale by solving the differential equations given by Speziale and Bernard (1992). Further, the spatial decay of TKE and its dependence on the Taylor micro-scale at the inlet boundary are derived. With this theoretical understanding, RANS simulations with k−ω turbulence models are conducted using the Taylor micro-scale and the TKE obtained from grid experiments as the inlet boundary condition. Second, the results are validated with excellent agreement with the TKE evolution downstream of a grid obtained through hot-wire measurements in the wind tunnel. Third, the study further introduces an airfoil in both the experimental and the numerical setting where 3D simulations are performed. A very good match between force coefficients obtained from experiments and the digital twin is found. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the Taylor micro-scale is the appropriate turbulence length scale to be used as the boundary condition and initial condition to simulate the evolution of TKE for regular-grid-generated turbulent flows. Additionally, the digital twin of the wind tunnel can accurately replicate the force coefficients obtained in the physical wind tunnel.

Unsteady loads on circular cylinder in cross-flow: An observation in natural wind and comparison with wind tunnel experiments

We present the synchronized unsteady wall pressure measurements performed at the circumference of a full scale 35 m circular chimney submitted to natural wind. The atmospheric turbulent boundary layer generates a turbulence intensity of 15 % at the altitude of the measurements and the corresponding Reynolds number is 1.13 106. For the first time, the steady and unsteady pressure distributions around the circumference are presented, despite large difficulties in the measuring process. The analysis of the pressure distribution using the bi-orthogonal decomposition (BOD) is a key factor in the success of the processing. By comparison with wind tunnel similar measurements, with 2D cylinders, the time-averaged pressure distribution is found between the one of a subcritical regime and a supercritical regime, slightly closer to the subcritical regime notably because the base pressure coefficients are similar. The atmospheric turbulence is an essential ingredient for the unsteady pressure response on the chimney, which generates high levels of RMS pressure, much higher than all those measured in wind tunnel, even under the turbulent flow generated by a grid. The analysis by BOD allowed the extraction of a term which is mainly generated by alternate vortex shedding. Despite a very noisy signal, the Strouhal number is determined to be 0.20–0.24. The corresponding shape of the pressure distribution is compared with those found in wind tunnel: it is shown that the full scale field measurements are close, but not identical, to the small scale measurements in wind tunnel on a rough cylinder submitted to a grid generated turbulent flow.

Split-step simulations to assess the effects of atmospheric boundary layer turbulence on the dose variability of N-waves and shaped booms

The effects of atmospheric boundary layer turbulence on the loudness variability of a sonic boom N-wave and shaped boom are examined with split-step simulations. The shaped boom is representative of a design iteration of the NASA X-59 aircraft. Inhomogeneous atmospheric boundary layer turbulence is generated in the computational domain by a Fourier synthesis method. The N-wave and shaped boom are propagated through turbulent fields representing eight different convection levels measured at the NASA Kennedy Space Center and the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. Probability density functions of the formation of caustic regions along the propagation direction are computed from the N-wave results, and a parameter to collapse the caustic PDFs that accounts for both fluctuation intensities and length scales is proposed. Statistical results concerning loudness metric variability are presented, and the standard deviations of several metrics are shown to collapse across different convection levels of turbulence for small nondimensional propagation distances. The loudness metric distributions are observed to be well approximated by a normal distribution for a given range of propagation distances, and become increasingly skewed as distance increases. A model function for the dose variability is proposed, and the function parameters are found to be related to the convection level of the turbulence. The model for the dose variability distribution is compared to simulation data that were not used to find the regression parameters of the model. At several nondimensional propagation distances, agreement is observed between the model and the simulation data. These results indicate that the model may be suitable for providing quick estimates of noise dose variability in the primary carpet region across a wide range of atmospheric boundary layer conditions.

Stochastic Dynamical Modeling of Wind Farm Turbulence

Low-fidelity engineering wake models are often combined with linear superposition laws to predict wake velocities across wind farms under steady atmospheric conditions. While convenient for wind farm planning and long-term performance evaluation, such models are unable to capture the time-varying nature of the waked velocity field, as they are agnostic to the complex aerodynamic interactions among wind turbines and the effects of atmospheric boundary layer turbulence. To account for such effects while remaining amenable to conventional system-theoretic tools for flow estimation and control, we propose a new class of data-enhanced physics-based models for the dynamics of wind farm flow fluctuations. Our approach relies on the predictive capability of the stochastically forced linearized Navier–Stokes equations around static base flow profiles provided by conventional engineering wake models. We identify the stochastic forcing into the linearized dynamics via convex optimization to ensure statistical consistency with higher-fidelity models or experimental measurements while preserving model parsimony. We demonstrate the utility of our approach in completing the statistical signature of wake turbulence in accordance with large-eddy simulations of turbulent flow over a cascade of yawed wind turbines. Our numerical experiments provide insight into the significance of spatially distributed field measurements in recovering the statistical signature of wind farm turbulence and training stochastic linear models for short-term wind forecasting.

Implementation of an embedded LES model with parameter assessment for predicting surface pressure and surrounding flow of an isolated building

Aiming at reducing computational costs, an embedded large eddy simulation (ELES) model is introduced to simulate the wind-induced response of an isolated tall building immersed in a turbulent atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). The unsteady LES with high grid resolution is computed at the building-located area, while the low-resolution RANS model is applied to other areas. The novelty of the present model is using the random flow generation (RFG) technique to provide turbulent fluctuations, applying a mixed condition to tangential interfaces, and the good pressure coupling between separated domains. The simulated fluctuating surface pressure and the surrounding wind field of the building are analyzed, as well as the effects of fraction factor and boundary locations of the inner LES domain on simulations are also studied. Comparison with experimental measurements and pure LES result verifies the good performance of present ELES and further reveals the weakened effect of the near-wall lateral boundaries and the distortion of the neighboring RANS flow field with an insufficient downstream boundary distance. The comparison shows that over 75% of the computing time is saved using present ELES compared with pure LES, demonstrating ELES's good prospects in the urban wind environment simulation.

Software and data for "Learning Atmospheric Boundary Layer Turbulence"

software and data for "Learning Atmospheric Boundary Layer Turbulence"

Impact of the rotor blades elasticity on the loads and wake of the large IEA 15-MW wind turbine

This work presents an investigation of the aeroelastic effects occurring on the IEA 15-MW reference wind turbine in a turbulent atmospheric boundary layer. Large Eddy simulation is carried out using an actuator line method coupled to the finite element beam solver BeamDyn. The results show that the blades experience significant displacements, leading to an important variation of the loads along the blade span. The turbulence also interacts with the blades natural frequencies, resulting in a variation of the spectra of the various loads. The impact of the flexibility is also evaluated on the wake by comparing the undeformed configuration with a statically and dynamically deformed rotor. It appears that the mean deformation plays an important role in the wake development due to changes in the load distribution, but that the dynamic effects have minimal impact on the wake behavior.

Actuator line model using simplified force calculation methods

Abstract. To simulate transient wind turbine wake interaction problems using limited wind turbine data, two new variants of the actuator line technique are proposed in which the rotor blade forces are computed locally using generic load data. The proposed models, which are extensions of the actuator disk force models proposed by Navarro Diaz et al. (2019a) and Sørensen et al. (2020), only demand thrust and power coefficients and the tip speed ratio as input parameters. In the paper the analogy between the actuator disk model (ADM) and the actuator line model (ALM) is shown, and from this a simple methodology to implement local forces in the ALM without the need for knowledge of blade geometry and local airfoil data is derived. Two simplified variants of ALMs are proposed, an analytical one based on Sørensen et al. (2020) and a numerical one based on Navarro Diaz et al. (2019a). The proposed models are compared to the ADM using analogous data, as well as to the classical ALM based on blade element theory, which provides more detailed force distributions by using airfoil data. To evaluate the local force calculation, the analysis of a partial-wake interaction case between two wind turbines is carried out for a uniform laminar inflow and for a turbulent neutral atmospheric boundary layer inflow. The computations are performed using the large eddy simulation facility in Open Source Field Operation and Manipulation (OpenFOAM), including Simulator for Wind Farm Applications (SOWFA) libraries and the reference National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 5 MW wind turbine as the test case. In the single-turbine case, computed normal and tangential force distributions along the blade showed a very good agreement between the employed models. The two new ALMs exhibited the same distribution as the ALM based on geometry and airfoil data, with minor differences due to the particular tip correction needed in the ALM. For the challenging partially impacted wake case, both the analytical and the numerical approaches manage to correctly capture the force distribution at the different regions of the rotor area, with, however, a consistent overestimation of the normal force outside the wake and an underestimation inside the wake. The analytical approach shows a slightly better performance in wake impact cases compared to the numerical one. As expected, the ALMs gave a much more detailed prediction of the higher-frequency power output fluctuations than the ADM. These promising findings open the possibility to simulate commercial wind farms in transient inflows using the ALM without having to get access to actual wind turbine and airfoil data, which in most cases are restricted due to confidentiality.

The Effects of Roadside Buildings Roof Shapes and Tree Plantings on the Vehicle Exhaust Gas Pollution Dispersion in the Urban Street

In this study, the effects of roadside building roof shapes and roadside tree plantings on the dispersion of vehicle exhaust gas pollution in the urban street have been carefully explored. Three typical roof shapes, i.e., flat, triangle and round shapes, are considered in the present work. Firstly, the numerical simulations of air pollution transport in the atmospheric turbulent boundary layer with/without the vegetation canopy have been performed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Secondly, the mean flow patterns and the distribution of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) are then examined. Finally, the concentrations of the air pollution have been carefully explored. It is found that the triangle roof could result in a lower concentration of air pollution in the street canyon. The existence of the roadside trees could decrease the air pollution concentration, although its influence is much weaker than the roof shape. It is also found that the concentration of air pollution is quite related to the flow pattern and TKE distribution. This study could provide helpful guidance on the urban planners on the design of the urban street in the future.

Large eddy simulation of turbulent atmospheric boundary layer flow based on a synthetic volume forcing method

A popular inflow turbulence generation (ITG) method is the synthetic random Fourier method because of its concise principle and high computational efficiency. However, the turbulent velocity in this method can hardly satisfy the Navier-Stokes (NS) equation, which usually leads to the re-development of the inflow turbulence field and attenuation of the turbulent energy in the downstream region. To overcome these problems, a synthetic volume forcing (SVF) method that constructs volume forces based on synthetic random Fourier method is proposed in this study. The volume forces can directly import turbulent energy into the mean flow to generate specified turbulent atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flows by acting as the source terms of the NS equation. Turbulent ABL flows over rural, suburban, and urban terrains are simulated by ITG and SVF methods in the LES model. The results indicate that in SVF cases, the turbulent ABL flows meet the predefined mean velocity, turbulence intensity, and spectrum. The validations in ITG and SVF cases show that the turbulent flows in later cases are compatible with the divergence-free condition and flow dynamics described by the momentum equations, indicating that they have good self-sustainability along the flow direction and do not lead to abnormal pressure fluctuations.

Effects of urban boundary layer turbulence on firebrand transport

This study investigates the role of topography-induced turbulence, generated by an idealized urban region, in the transport of firebrands and risk of spotting. Flight dispersion, deposition, and smoldering state of tens of thousands of individual mass and size-changing firebrands were investigated in the atmospheric boundary layer turbulence, which was obtained using Large-eddy simulations. Firebrands were assumed to be smoldering spherical particles of Stokes numbers ranging from 30 to 175. Resultsindicate that the presence of urban topography significantly affects the firebrand flight behavior, landing distribution, and risk of spotting. Compared to a case with flat topography, horizontal dispersions of the smallest size firebrands were significantly enhanced when urban topography was presented, while the largest firebrands landed closer to each other and closer to the release point. Consequently, a notably different and more compact spotting risk map was achieved. Within the urban boundary layer turbulence, firebrands had a shorter flight and smoldering times in comparison with the flat case. As a result, firebrands landed with larger temperatures, which contributed to a higher risk of spotting in the presence of urban topography.

Numerical Simulation of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Turbulence in a Wind Tunnel Based on a Hybrid Method

In the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation for building structures, it is important to generate a stable atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flow field that meets the standards. In this paper, the wind profile, turbulence intensity, and wind velocity power spectrum in the target region of a numerical wind tunnel were accurately simulated by a hybrid method. With the numerical simulation software FLUENT, the hybrid simulation method was implemented. In the hybrid simulation method, the wind field was simulated by setting the roughness element in the upstream of the model, adding random disturbance, and setting the circulation surface. The influences of simulation parameters (such as roughness element and random number parameters) and FLUENT solution methods on the flow field results were studied. The results show that the influence range of the roughness element on turbulence intensity is approximately 6 times its physical height. The turbulence intensity is positively correlated with the standard deviation of random numbers and negatively correlated with the assignment height. Finally, the wind fields for different terrains satisfying the standards were obtained in numerical wind tunnels. A simulation of the wind pressure on an inflatable membrane structure was illustrated. The comparison between numerical and experimental results shows a good accordance, which indicates a desirable potential in practical application.

Large-Scale Coherent Turbulence Structures in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer over Flat Terrain

Abstract We investigate characteristics of large-scale coherent motions in the atmospheric boundary layer using field measurements made with two long-range scanning wind lidars. The joint scans provide quasi-instantaneous wind fields over a domain of ∼50 km2, at two heights above flat but partially forested terrain. Along with the two-dimensional wind fields, two-point statistics and spectra are used to identify and characterize the scales, shape, and anisotropy of coherent structures—as well as their influence on wind field homogeneity. For moderate to high wind speeds in near-neutral conditions, most of the observed structures correspond to narrow streaks of low streamwise momentum near the surface, extending several hundred meters in the streamwise direction; these are associated with positive vertical velocity ejections. For unstable conditions and moderate winds, these structures become large-scale rolls, with longitudinal extent exceeding the measuring domain (>∼5 km); they dominate the conventional surface-layer structures in terms of both physical scale and relative size of velocity-component variances, appearing as quasi-two-dimensional structures throughout the entire boundary layer. The observations shown here are consistent with numerical simulations of atmospheric flows, field observations, and laboratory experiments under similar conditions. Significance Statement Coherent structures have attracted the interest of researchers for decades, being viewed as the closest to “order” that we can find within the chaos of turbulence. In the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer, micro- and mesoscale coherent structures come in many shapes and sizes, such as convective cells, rolls, or streaks. In this study we used dual lidars (remote sensing measurements), developing analysis of their tandem usage to characterize in detail some of the large-scale coherent structures generated over flat terrain. This allowed us to better understand the mechanisms that generate such structures and describe their influence on the morphology of the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer across a good deal of its depth.

Development of Eulerian–Lagrangian simulation for snow transport in the presence of obstacles

The aim of this study is to develop a wind-induced snow transport model in a turbulent atmospheric boundary layer with the multiphase particle-in-cell (MP-PIC) approach. The airflow is treated as a continuum (Eulerian phase), and the snow is treated as discrete particles (Lagrangian phase). The momentum exchange between airflow and snow particles is considered, as well as the drag force of fluctuation velocity on particles, the turbulence damping near the snow-airflow interface, and the inter-particle collisions. The validation comprised wind-induced snow transport on flat terrain and around the roadbed, with the typical Eulerian–Eulerian approach serving as a control. The Eulerian–Lagrangian approach yields a better agreement with the experimental observations, especially in the presence of obstacles. On the contrary, considerable discrepancies with the experimental data are detected when utilizing the Eulerian–Eulerian approach. The Eulerian–Lagrangian approach is thought to have the advantages of independent snow momentum-governing equations and a precise snow-airflow momentum exchange model, which could be beneficial for snow transport prediction in urban environments.