scholarly journals Evaluating Terrain as a Turbulence Generation Method

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (21) ◽  
pp. 6858
Author(s):  
Patrick Hawbecker ◽  
Matthew Churchfield
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Mesoscale Model ◽  
Boundary Layer Height ◽  
Simulation Performance ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Mean Wind Speed ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Capping Inversion ◽  
Turbulence Generation

When driving microscale large-eddy simulations with mesoscale model solutions, turbulence will take space to develop, known as fetch, on the microscale domain. To reduce fetch, it is common to add perturbations near the boundaries to speed up turbulence development. However, when simulating domains over complex terrain, it is possible that the terrain itself can quickly generate turbulence within the boundary layer. It is shown here that rugged terrain is able to generate turbulence without the assistance of a perturbation strategy; however, the levels of turbulence generated are improved when adding perturbations at the inlet. Flow over smoothed, but not flat, terrain fails to generate adequate turbulence throughout the boundary layer in all tests conducted herein. Sensitivities to the strength of the mean wind speed and boundary layer height are investigated and show that higher wind speeds produce turbulence over terrain features that slower wind speeds do not. Further, by increasing the height of the capping inversion, the effectiveness of topography alone to generate turbulence throughout the depth of the boundary is diminished. In all cases, the inclusion of a perturbation strategy improved simulation performance with respect to turbulence development.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the the wind farm wake parametrization with large-eddy simulations of wakes in WRF

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfredo Peña ◽  
Jeffrey Mirocha
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wrf Model ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Large Eddy Simulations ◽  
Disk Model ◽  
Mesoscale Models ◽  
Boundary Layer Height ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Large Eddy

<p>Mesoscale models, such as the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, are now commonly used to predict wind resources, and in recent years their outputs are being used as inputs to wake models for the prediction of the production of wind farms. Also, wind farm parametrizations have been implemented in the mesoscale models but their accuracy to reproduce wind speeds and turbulent kinetic energy fields within and around wind farms is yet unknown. This is partly because they have been evaluated against wind farm power measurements directly and, generally, a lack of high-quality observations of the wind field around large wind farms. Here, we evaluate the in-built wind farm parametrization of the WRF model, the so-called Fitch scheme that works together with the MYNN2 planetary boundary layer (PBL) scheme against large-eddy simulations (LES) of wakes using a generalized actuator disk model, which was also implemented within the same WRF version. After setting both types of simulations as similar as possible so that the inflow conditions are nearly identical, preliminary results show that the velocity deficits can differ up to 50% within the same area (determined by the resolution of the mesoscale run) where the turbine is placed. In contrast, within that same area, the turbine-generated TKE is nearly identical in both simulations. We also prepare an analysis of the sensitivity of the results to the inflow wind conditions, horizontal grid resolution of both the LES and the PBL run, number of turbines within the mesoscale grid cells, surface roughness, inversion strength, and boundary-layer height.</p>

scholarly journals Nature of the Mesoscale Boundary Layer Height and Water Vapor Variability Observed 14 June 2002 during the IHOP_2002 Campaign

2009 ◽  
Vol 137 (1) ◽  
pp. 414-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Couvreux ◽  
F. Guichard ◽  
P. H. Austin ◽  
F. Chen
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Water Vapor ◽  
Mesoscale Model ◽  
Surface Flux ◽  
Early Morning ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Layer Height ◽  
Horizontal Advection ◽  
Boundary Layer Height ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Mesoscale water vapor heterogeneities in the boundary layer are studied within the context of the International H2O Project (IHOP_2002). A significant portion of the water vapor variability in the IHOP_2002 occurs at the mesoscale, with the spatial pattern and the magnitude of the variability changing from day to day. On 14 June 2002, an atypical mesoscale gradient is observed, which is the reverse of the climatological gradient over this area. The factors causing this water vapor variability are investigated using complementary platforms (e.g., aircraft, satellite, and in situ) and models. The impact of surface flux heterogeneities and atmospheric variability are evaluated separately using a 1D boundary layer model, which uses surface fluxes from the High-Resolution Land Data Assimilation System (HRLDAS) and early-morning atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles from a mesoscale model. This methodology, based on the use of robust modeling components, allows the authors to tackle the question of the nature of the observed mesoscale variability. The impact of horizontal advection is inferred from a careful analysis of available observations. By isolating the individual contributions to mesoscale water vapor variability, it is shown that the observed moisture variability cannot be explained by a single process, but rather involves a combination of different factors: the boundary layer height, which is strongly controlled by the surface buoyancy flux, the surface latent heat flux, the early-morning heterogeneity of the atmosphere, horizontal advection, and the radiative impact of clouds.

scholarly journals Mesoscale nesting interface of the PALM model system 6.0

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eckhard Kadasch ◽  
Matthias Sühring ◽  
Tobias Gronemeier ◽  
Siegfried Raasch
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Mesoscale Model ◽  
Model System ◽  
Convective Boundary ◽  
Convective Structures ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Synoptic Conditions ◽  
Turbulence Generation

Abstract. In this paper, we present a newly developed mesoscale nesting interface for the PALM model system 6.0, which enables PALM to simulate the atmospheric boundary layer under spatially heterogeneous and non-stationary synoptic conditions. The implemented nesting interface, which is currently tailored to the mesoscale model COSMO, consists of two major parts: (i) the preprocessor INIFOR, which provides initial and time-dependent boundary conditions from mesoscale model output and (ii) PALM's internal routines for reading the provided forcing data and superimposing synthetic turbulence to accelerate the transition to a fully developed turbulent atmospheric boundary layer. We describe in detail the conversion between the sets of prognostic variables, transformations between model coordinate systems, as well as data interpolation onto PALM's grid, which are carried out by INIFOR. Furthermore, we describe PALM's internal usage of the provided forcing data, which besides the temporal interpolation of boundary conditions and removal of any residual divergence includes the generation of stability-dependent synthetic turbulence at the inflow boundaries in order to accelerate the transition from the turbulence-free mesoscale solution to a resolved turbulent flow. We demonstrate and evaluate the nesting interface by means of a semi-idealized benchmark case. We carried out a large-eddy simulation (LES) of an evolving convective boundary layer on a clear-sky spring day. Besides verifying that changes in the inflow conditions enter into and successively propagate through the PALM domain, we focus our analysis on the effectiveness of the synthetic turbulence generation. By analysing various turbulence statistics, we show that the inflow in the present case is fully adjusted after having propagated for about 1.5 eddy turn-over times downstream, which corresponds well to other state-of-the-art methods for turbulence generation. Furthermore, we observe that numerical artefacts in the form of under-resolved convective structures in the mesoscale model enter the PALM domain, biasing the location of the turbulent up- and downdrafts in the LES. With these findings presented, we aim to verify the mesoscale nesting approach implemented in PALM, point out specific shortcomings, and build a baseline for future improvements and developments.

scholarly journals Calculated wind climatology of the South-Saxonian/North-Czech mountain topography including improved resolution of mountains

1996 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 767-772 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Hinneburg ◽  
G. Tetzlaff
Keyword(s):  
Mesoscale Model ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Geostrophic Wind ◽  
Horizontal Resolution ◽  
Special Treatment ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Radiosonde Station ◽  
Wind Climatology ◽  
Speed Up

Abstract. A mesoscale model has been applied to calculate climatological means of the surface wind. A reliable average requires more than 40 model runs, which are differentiated by the direction and speed of the geostrophic wind under the assumption of neutral stratification. The frequency distributions of the geostrophic wind have been taken from observations of the 850-hPa winds at the radiosonde station in Prague for a 10-year period. The simulation results have been averaged over all sectors and speed classes of the geostrophic wind according to their frequencies. A comparison of the calculated mean wind speeds with observed ones shows deviations of about 0.4 ms–1 outside the mountains. The representation of steep topography and isolated mountains on the basis of a 3-km horizontal resolution of the simulations needs special treatment in order to reduce the gap of up to 4 ms–1 between observed and simulated mean wind speeds over mountains. Therefore, an empiric speed-up formula has been applied to the isolated mountains that otherwise would fall through the 3-km meshes. The corresponding deviations have been reduced to 1.5 ms–1.

scholarly journals Evaluation of large-eddy simulations forced with mesoscale model output for a multi-week period during a measurement campaign

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 7083-7109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rieke Heinze ◽  
Christopher Moseley ◽  
Lennart Nils Böske ◽  
Shravan Kumar Muppa ◽  
Vera Maurer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Mesoscale Model ◽  
Large Eddy Simulations ◽  
Model Output ◽  
Synoptic Scale ◽  
High Definition ◽  
Shallow Cumulus ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Lidar Measurements ◽  
The Mean

Abstract. Large-eddy simulations (LESs) of a multi-week period during the HD(CP)2 (High-Definition Clouds and Precipitation for advancing Climate Prediction) Observational Prototype Experiment (HOPE) conducted in Germany are evaluated with respect to mean boundary layer quantities and turbulence statistics. Two LES models are used in a semi-idealized setup through forcing with mesoscale model output to account for the synoptic-scale conditions. Evaluation is performed based on the HOPE observations. The mean boundary layer characteristics like the boundary layer depth are in a principal agreement with observations. Simulating shallow-cumulus layers in agreement with the measurements poses a challenge for both LES models. Variance profiles agree satisfactorily with lidar measurements. The results depend on how the forcing data stemming from mesoscale model output are constructed. The mean boundary layer characteristics become less sensitive if the averaging domain for the forcing is large enough to filter out mesoscale fluctuations.

scholarly journals Performance Assessment of Dynamic Downscaling of WRF to Simulate Convective Conditions during Sagebrush Phase 1 Tracer Experiments

Atmosphere ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 505
Author(s):  
Sudheer Bhimireddy ◽  
Kiran Bhaganagar
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Wind Direction ◽  
Mesoscale Model ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Atmospheric Stability ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Forecast Model ◽  
Tracer Experiment ◽  
Grid Size ◽  
Wind Speeds

Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) corresponding to four convective intensive observation periods of Sagebrush Phase 1 tracer experiment were conducted with realistic boundary conditions using Weather Research and Forecast model (WRF). Multiple nested domains were used to dynamically downscale the conditions from domain with grid size of 24 km to local scales with grid size of 150 m. Sensitivity analysis of mesoscale model was conducted using three boundary layer, three surface layer and two micro-physics schemes. Model performance was evaluated by comparing the surface meteorological variables and boundary layer height from the mesoscale runs and observed values during tracer experiment. Output from mesoscale simulations was used to drive the LES domains. Effect of vertical resolution and sub-grid scale parameterizations were studied by comparing the wind speed and direction profiles along with turbulent kinetic energy at two different heights. Atmospheric stability estimated using the Richardson number and shear exponent evaluated between 8- and 60-m levels was found to vary between weakly unstable to unstable. Comparing the wind direction standard deviations coupled with the wind speeds showed that the WRF-LES underestimated the wind direction fluctuations for wind speeds smaller than 3-ms − 1 . Based on the strengths of convection and shear, WRF-LES was able to simulate horizontal convection roll and convective cell type features.

scholarly journals Mesoscale nesting interface of the PALM model system 6.0

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 5435-5465
Author(s):  
Eckhard Kadasch ◽  
Matthias Sühring ◽  
Tobias Gronemeier ◽  
Siegfried Raasch
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Mesoscale Model ◽  
Model System ◽  
Convective Boundary ◽  
Convective Structures ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Synoptic Conditions ◽  
Turbulence Generation

Abstract. In this paper, we present a newly developed mesoscale nesting interface for the PALM model system 6.0, which enables PALM to simulate the atmospheric boundary layer under spatially heterogeneous and non-stationary synoptic conditions. The implemented nesting interface, which is currently tailored to the mesoscale model COSMO, consists of two major parts: (i) the preprocessor INIFOR (initialization and forcing), which provides initial and time-dependent boundary conditions from mesoscale model output, and (ii) PALM's internal routines for reading the provided forcing data and superimposing synthetic turbulence to accelerate the transition to a fully developed turbulent atmospheric boundary layer. We describe in detail the conversion between the sets of prognostic variables, transformations between model coordinate systems, as well as data interpolation onto PALM's grid, which are carried out by INIFOR. Furthermore, we describe PALM's internal usage of the provided forcing data, which, besides the temporal interpolation of boundary conditions and removal of any residual divergence, includes the generation of stability-dependent synthetic turbulence at the inflow boundaries in order to accelerate the transition from the turbulence-free mesoscale solution to a resolved turbulent flow. We demonstrate and evaluate the nesting interface by means of a semi-idealized benchmark case. We carried out a large-eddy simulation (LES) of an evolving convective boundary layer on a clear-sky spring day. Besides verifying that changes in the inflow conditions enter into and successively propagate through the PALM domain, we focus our analysis on the effectiveness of the synthetic turbulence generation. By analysing various turbulence statistics, we show that the inflow in the present case is fully adjusted after having propagated for about two to three eddy-turnover times downstream, which corresponds well to other state-of-the-art methods for turbulence generation. Furthermore, we observe that numerical artefacts in the form of grid-scale convective structures in the mesoscale model enter the PALM domain, biasing the location of the turbulent up- and downdrafts in the LES. With these findings presented, we aim to verify the mesoscale nesting approach implemented in PALM, point out specific shortcomings, and build a baseline for future improvements and developments.

scholarly journals Representation of the grey zone of turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 63-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Honnert
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Numerical Weather Prediction Model ◽  
Grey Zone ◽  
Shallow Convection ◽  
Convective Boundary ◽  
Boundary Layer Height ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Layer Structures ◽  
Large Eddy

Abstract. Numerical weather prediction model forecasts at horizontal grid lengths in the range of 100 to 1 km are now possible. This range of scales is the "grey zone of turbulence". Previous studies, based on large-eddy simulation (LES) analysis from the MésoNH model, showed that some assumptions of some turbulence schemes on boundary-layer structures are not valid. Indeed, boundary-layer thermals are now partly resolved, and the subgrid remaining part of the thermals is possibly largely or completely absent from the model columns. First, some modifications of the equations of the shallow convection scheme have been tested in the MésoNH model and in an idealized version of the operational AROME model at resolutions coarser than 500 m. Secondly, although the turbulence is mainly vertical at mesoscale (>  2 km resolution), it is isotropic in LES (<  100 m resolution). It has been proved by LES analysis that, in convective boundary layers, the horizontal production of turbulence cannot be neglected at resolutions finer than half of the boundary-layer height. Thus, in the grey zone, fully unidirectional turbulence scheme should become tridirectional around 500 m resolution. At Météo-France, the dynamical turbulence is modelled by a K-gradient in LES as well as at mesoscale in both MésoNH and AROME, which needs mixing lengths in the formulation. Vertical and horizontal mixing lengths have been calculated from LES of neutral and convective cases at resolutions in the grey zone.

scholarly journals Meteorological Model Evaluation for CalNex 2010

2012 ◽  
Vol 140 (12) ◽  
pp. 3885-3906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne M. Angevine ◽  
Lee Eddington ◽  
Kevin Durkee ◽  
Chris Fairall ◽  
Laura Bianco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Layer Structure ◽  
Sea Breeze ◽  
San Joaquin Valley ◽  
Meteorological Model ◽  
Simulation Performance ◽  
Wind Speeds

Abstract The performance of mesoscale meteorological models is evaluated for the coastal zone and Los Angeles area of Southern California, and for the San Joaquin Valley. Several configurations of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) with differing grid spacing, initialization, planetary boundary layer (PBL) physics, and land surface models are compared. One configuration of the Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) model is also included, providing results from an independent development and process flow. Specific phenomena of interest for air quality studies are examined. All model configurations are biased toward higher wind speeds than observed. The diurnal cycle of wind direction and speed (land–sea-breeze cycle) as modeled and observed by a wind profiler at Los Angeles International Airport is examined. Each of the models shows different flaws in the cycle. Soundings from San Nicolas Island, a case study involving the Research Vessel (R/V) Atlantis and the NOAA P3 aircraft, and satellite images are used to evaluate simulation performance for cloudy boundary layers. In a case study, the boundary layer structure over the water is poorly simulated by all of the WRF configurations except one with the total energy–mass flux boundary layer scheme and ECMWF reanalysis. The original WRF configuration had a substantial bias toward low PBL heights in the San Joaquin Valley, which are improved in the final configuration. WRF runs with 12-km grids have larger errors in wind speed and direction than those present in the 4-km grid runs.

scholarly journals Seasonal Variability in the Diurnal Evolution of the Boundary Layer in a Near-Coastal Urban Environment

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 697-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine L. Haman ◽  
Barry Lefer ◽  
Gary A. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Surface Layer ◽  
Vertical Profiles ◽  
High Wind ◽  
Layer Height ◽  
Boundary Layer Height ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Early Evening ◽  
Stable Surface Layer

Abstract Boundary layer height is estimated during a 21-month period in Houston, Texas, using continuous ceilometer observations and the minimum-gradient method. A comparison with over 60 radiosondes indicates overall agreement between ceilometer- and radiosonde-estimated PBL and residual layer heights. Additionally, the ceilometer-estimated PBL heights agree well with 31 vertical profiles of ozone. Difficulty detecting the PBL height occurs immediately following a frontal system with precipitation, during periods with high wind speeds, and in the early evening when convection is weakening, a new stable surface layer is forming, and the lofted aerosols detected by the lidar do not represent the PBL. Long-term diurnal observations of the PBL height indicate nocturnal PBL heights range from approximately 100 to 300 m throughout the year, while the convective PBL displays more seasonal and daily variability typically ranging from 1100 m in the winter to 2000 m in the summer.

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