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Analysis and numerical simulation of a laboratory analog of radiatively induced cloud-top entrainment

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Abstract

Numerical simulations using the one-dimensional-turbulence (ODT) model are compared to water-tank measurements emulating convection and entrainment in stratiform clouds driven by cloud-top cooling. Measured dependences of the entrainment rate on Richardson number were numerically reproduced for water trials in which the initial stratification is due to temperature differences. For an additional set of trials where the initial stratification is obtained by adding dextrose to the lower layer of the tank, measured dependences of the entrainment rate on Richardson number were partially reproduced, and importantly, the model also captures the measured sensitivity of entrainment to molecular transport. Additional parameter variations suggest other dependences of the entrainment rate. Analysis suggests possible qualitative differences between laboratory and cloud entrainment behaviors that might be testable using ODT.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering, BTU Cottbus, Cottbus, Germany

    Heiko Schmidt

  2. Combustion Research Facility, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA, USA

    Alan R. Kerstein

  3. Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Scott Wunsch

  4. Open Cascade S.A.S., Paris, France

    Renaud Nédélec

  5. Black Hills State University, Spearfish, SD, USA

    Ben J. Sayler

Authors
  1. Heiko Schmidt
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  2. Alan R. Kerstein
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  3. Scott Wunsch
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  4. Renaud Nédélec
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  5. Ben J. Sayler
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Correspondence to Heiko Schmidt.

Additional information

Communucated by R. Klein.

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Schmidt, H., Kerstein, A.R., Wunsch, S. et al. Analysis and numerical simulation of a laboratory analog of radiatively induced cloud-top entrainment. Theor. Comput. Fluid Dyn. 27, 377–395 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00162-012-0288-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00162-012-0288-4

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