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Resolving the Effects of Aperture and Volume Restriction of the Flow by Semi-Porous Barriers Using Large-Eddy Simulations

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Abstract

The Regional Atmospheric Modelling System (RAMS)-based Forest Large-Eddy Simulation (RAFLES) model is used to simulate the effects of large rectangular prism-shaped semi-porous barriers of varying densities under neutrally buoyant conditions. RAFLES model resolves flows inside and above forested canopies and other semi-porous barriers, and it accounts for barrier-induced drag on the flow and surface flux exchange between the barrier and the air. Unlike most other models, RAFLES model also accounts for the barrier-induced volume and aperture restriction via a modified version of the cut-cell coordinate system. We explicitly tested the effects of the numerical representation of volume restriction, independent of the effects of the drag, by comparing drag-only simulations (where we prescribed neither volume nor aperture restrictions to the flow), restriction-only simulations (where we prescribed no drag), and control simulations where both drag and volume plus aperture restrictions were included. Previous modelling and empirical work have revealed the development of important areas of increased uplift upwind of forward-facing steps, and recirculation zones downwind of backward-facing steps. Our simulations show that representation of the effects of the volume and aperture restriction due to the presence of semi-porous barriers leads to differences in the strengths and locations of increased-updraft and recirculation zones, and the length and strength of impact and adjustment zones when compared to simulation solutions with a drag-only representation. These are mostly driven by differences to the momentum budget of the streamwise wind velocity by resolved turbulence and pressure gradient fields around the front and back edges of the barrier. We propose that volume plus aperture restriction is an important component of the flow system in semi-porous environments such as forests and cities and should be considered by large-eddy simulation (LES).

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Acknowledgments

We thank Robert Walko for developing the implementation of the cut-cell approach in RAMS and assisting in implementing it in RAFLES model. Simulations were conducted at The Ohio Supercomputer Centre. The work was conducted with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute for Food & Agriculture (NIFA) - Air Quality grant CSREES-OHOR-2009-04566 and Forest Service Northern Research Station, East Lansing, MI, Joint Research Venture #10-JV-11242302-013. Further developments of RAFLES model were funded in part by NSF grants # DEB-0911461 and CBET-1033451. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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  1. Department of Civil, Environmental & Geodetic Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH , 43210, USA

    Efthalia K. Chatziefstratiou, Vasilia Velissariou & Gil Bohrer

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  1. Efthalia K. Chatziefstratiou
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  2. Vasilia Velissariou
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  3. Gil Bohrer
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Correspondence to Efthalia K. Chatziefstratiou.

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Chatziefstratiou, E.K., Velissariou, V. & Bohrer, G. Resolving the Effects of Aperture and Volume Restriction of the Flow by Semi-Porous Barriers Using Large-Eddy Simulations. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 152, 329–348 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-014-9923-5

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