skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Comparison of Measured and Numerically Simulated Turbulence Statistics in a Convective Boundary Layer Over Complex Terrain

Journal Article · · Boundary-Layer Meteorology
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
  3. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

High resolution numerical simulation can provide insight into important physical processes that occur within the planetary boundary layer (PBL). The present work employs large eddy simulation (LES) nested within the Weather Forecasting and Research (WRF) framework to simulate real conditions in the convective PBL over an area of complex terrain. A multiple nesting approach has been used to downsize the grid spacing size from 12.15 km (mesoscale) to 0.03 km (LES). To minimize artifacts in theWRF-LES solutions resulting from using an inappropriate grid spacing on the WRF-Meso domain, a careful selection of grid spacing has been conducted. The WRF-LES results have been evaluated with in situ and remote sensing observations collected during the US Department of Energy supported Columbia BasinWind Energy Study (CBWES). The comparison for the first and second order moments, turbulence spectrum, and probability density function (pdf) of wind speed show good agreement between the simulation and data. Furthermore, the WRF-LES variables show a great deal of variability in space and time caused by the complex topography in the LES domain. The WRF-LES results show that the flow structures, such as roll vortices and convective cells, over the domain vary depending on both the spatial location and time of the day. In addition to basic studies related to boundary-layer meteorology, results from these simulations can be used in other applications, such as studying the wind energy resources.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1524291
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-774259; 964842
Journal Information:
Boundary-Layer Meteorology, Vol. 163, Issue 1; ISSN 0006-8314
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 36 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (35)

Large eddy simulation of wind turbine wake dynamics in the stable boundary layer using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model journal May 2014
Effects of spatial and temporal resolution of the turbulent inflow on wind turbine performance estimation: Effect of turbulence scales journal August 2015
Review and intercomparison of operational methods for the determination of the mixing height journal January 2000
Large-eddy simulation of neutral atmospheric boundary layer flow over heterogeneous surfaces: Blending height and effective surface roughness: LES OF NEUTRAL ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER FLOW journal February 2004
A New Vertical Diffusion Package with an Explicit Treatment of Entrainment Processes journal September 2006
Examining Two-Way Grid Nesting for Large Eddy Simulation of the PBL Using the WRF Model journal June 2007
Implementation of a Nonlinear Subfilter Turbulence Stress Model for Large-Eddy Simulation in the Advanced Research WRF Model journal November 2010
Mixing height estimation from sodar data — A critical discussion journal December 1997
Radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases: Calculations with the AER radiative transfer models journal January 2008
Toward Numerical Modeling in the “Terra Incognita” journal July 2004
Evaluation of WRF-Predicted Near-Hub-Height Winds and Ramp Events over a Pacific Northwest Site with Complex Terrain journal August 2013
Resolved Turbulence Characteristics in Large-Eddy Simulations Nested within Mesoscale Simulations Using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model journal February 2014
Bridging the Transition from Mesoscale to Microscale Turbulence in Numerical Weather Prediction Models journal August 2014
An Intercomparison of Large-Eddy Simulations of the Stable Boundary Layer journal February 2006
North American Regional Reanalysis journal March 2006
Large-Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Sheared Convection journal April 1989
Large-Eddy Simulation of the Convective Atmospheric Boundary Layer journal June 1989
Improvement of the K-profile Model for the Planetary Boundary Layer based on Large Eddy Simulation Data journal May 2003
An Introduction to Boundary Layer Meteorology book January 1988
Large eddy simulation study of fully developed wind-turbine array boundary layers journal January 2010
Simultaneous nested modeling from the synoptic scale to the LES scale for wind energy applications journal April 2011
Large-eddy simulation of atmospheric boundary layer flow through wind turbines and wind farms journal April 2011
A Large Eddy Simulation Study of a Quasi-Steady, Stably Stratified Atmospheric Boundary Layer journal April 2000
Nested Mesoscale Large-Eddy Simulations with WRF: Performance in Real Test Cases journal October 2012
A Large-Eddy-Simulation Model for the Study of Planetary Boundary-Layer Turbulence journal July 1984
Numerical Investigation of Neutral and Unstable Planetary Boundary Layers journal January 1972
The Convective Boundary Layer in the Terra Incognita journal July 2014
An Improved Mellor–Yamada Level-3 Model: Its Numerical Stability and Application to a Regional Prediction of Advection Fog journal March 2006
Coupling an Advanced Land Surface–Hydrology Model with the Penn State–NCAR MM5 Modeling System. Part I: Model Implementation and Sensitivity journal April 2001
The Structure and Dynamics of Horizontal Roll Vortices in the Planetary Boundary Layer journal September 1973
Impact of Cloud Microphysics on the Development of Trailing Stratiform Precipitation in a Simulated Squall Line: Comparison of One- and Two-Moment Schemes journal March 2009
Evaluating Mesoscale NWP Models Using Kinetic Energy Spectra journal December 2004
Explicit Filtering and Reconstruction Turbulence Modeling for Large-Eddy Simulation of Neutral Boundary Layer Flow journal July 2005
Implementation of a generalized actuator disk wind turbine model into the weather research and forecasting model for large-eddy simulation applications journal January 2014
Convectively Induced Secondary Circulations in Fine-Grid Mesoscale Numerical Weather Prediction Models text January 2014

Cited By (6)

A method to determine the characteristic time‐scales of quasi‐isotropic surface‐layer turbulence over complex terrain: A case‐study in the Adige Valley (Italian Alps)
  • Falocchi, Marco; Giovannini, Lorenzo; de Franceschi, Massimiliano
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 145, Issue 719 https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3444
journal January 2019
The Impact of Surface Heterogeneities and Land‐Atmosphere Interactions on Shallow Clouds Over ARM SGP Site journal June 2018
The Importance of Snow Sublimation on a Himalayan Glacier journal August 2018
Development of a High-Resolution Wind Forecast System Based on the WRF Model and a Hybrid Kalman-Bayesian Filter journal August 2019
Large-eddy simulation sensitivities to variations of configuration and forcing parameters in canonical boundary-layer flows for wind energy applications journal January 2018
Large-Eddy Simulation Sensitivities to Variations of Configuration and Forcing Parameters in Canonical Boundary-Layer Flows for Wind Energy Applications journal August 2017

Figures / Tables (20)

Fig. 1(p. 6)figure Fig. 1
Table 1(p. 7)table Table 1
Fig. 2(p. 8)figure Fig. 2
Table 2(p. 9)table Table 2
Table 3(p. 10)table Table 3
Fig. 3(p. 11)figure Fig. 3
Fig. 4(p. 11)figure Fig. 4
Fig. 5(p. 12)figure Fig. 5
Fig. 6(p. 13)figure Fig. 6
Fig. 7(p. 14)figure Fig. 7
Fig. 8(p. 15)figure Fig. 8
Fig. 9(p. 16)figure Fig. 9
Fig. 10(p. 17)figure Fig. 10
Fig. 11(p. 18)figure Fig. 11
Fig. 12(p. 19)figure Fig. 12
Fig. 13(p. 20)figure Fig. 13
Fig. 14(p. 22)figure Fig. 14
Fig. 15(p. 24)figure Fig. 15
Fig. 16(p. 25)figure Fig. 16
Fig. 17(p. 26)figure Fig. 17

Similar Records

Comparison of Measured and Numerically Simulated Turbulence Statistics in a Convective Boundary Layer Over Complex Terrain
Journal Article · Fri Nov 25 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Boundary-Layer Meteorology · OSTI ID:1524291
+3 more
Spatiotemporal Variability of Turbulence Kinetic Energy Budgets in the Convective Boundary Layer over Both Simple and Complex Terrain
Journal Article · Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology · OSTI ID:1524291
+4 more
Spatiotemporal Variability of Turbulence Kinetic Energy Budgets in the Convective Boundary Layer over Both Simple and Complex Terrain
Journal Article · Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology · OSTI ID:1524291
+4 more

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES