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Filtering of windborne particles by a natural windbreak

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Abstract

New measurements of the transport and deposition of artificial heavy particles (glass beads) to a thick ‘shelterbelt’ of maize (width/height ratio W/H ≈ 1.6) are used to test numerical simulations with a Lagrangian stochastic trajectory model driven by the flow field from a RANS (Reynolds-averaged, Navier–Stokes) wind and turbulence model. We illustrate the ambiguity inherent in applying to such a thick windbreak the pre-existing (Raupach et al. 2001; Atmos. Environ. 35, 3373–3383) ‘thin windbreak’ theory of particle filtering by vegetation, and show that the present description, while much more laborious, provides a reasonably satisfactory account of what was measured. A sizeable fraction of the particle flux entering the shelterbelt across its upstream face is lifted out of its volume by the mean updraft induced by the deceleration of the flow in the near-upstream and entry region, and these particles thereby escape deposition in the windbreak.

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Abbreviations

(¯ ):

Time averaged quantity

ε:

Dissipation rate of the turbulent kinetic energy

η:

Optical porosity

θ:

Wind direction

ρ:

Air density

σ:

Particle transmittance across a windbreak

σ x :

Standard deviation in the quantity x

τ p :

Particle Stokesian time scale

τ ij :

Reynolds stress tensor

Ω:

Speed of rotation

A :

Vegetation area density

c :

Particle concentration

C d :

In-situ drag coefficient of vegetation

d p :

Particle diameter

e :

Coefficient of velocity restitution upon rebound

E I :

Efficiency of impaction

F i :

Particle flux across a boundary of the shelterbelt

g :

Gravitational acceleration

H :

Windbreak height

H s :

Particle source height

k v :

Von Karman constant

L mo :

Obukhov length

L v :

Length scale of a vegetation element

m :

Meandering factor

P I :

Probability of particle interception

Q :

Particle source intensity

Q h :

Heat flux density

R i :

Experimental run label

Re :

Reynolds number

s :

Horizontal wind speed

S t :

Stokes number

t :

Time

T L :

Lagrangian integral time scale

u :

Wind velocity in the direction normal to the windbreak

u p :

Particle velocity in the direction normal to the windbreak

\({u_\star}\) :

Friction velocity

v :

Wind velocity in the direction parallel to the windbreak

v p :

Particle velocity in the direction parallel to the windbreak

V b :

Bleed velocity through a screen

V c :

Critical velocity of rebound

V i :

Particle impact velocity

V r :

Particle rebound velocity

W :

Windbreak thickness

w :

Wind velocity in the vertical direction

w p :

Particle velocity in the vertical direction

w g :

Particle gravitational settling velocity

x :

Distance in the direction normal to windbreak

X s :

Position of the source in the horizontal

y :

Distance in the direction parallel to windbreak

z :

Height

z 0 :

Roughness length

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité mixte de recherche ‘Environnement Grandes Cultures’ INAPG-INRA, Thiverval-Grignon, France

    Thomas Bouvet, Benjamin Loubet & Andree Tuzet

  2. Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, 1-26 Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2E3

    Thomas Bouvet & John D. Wilson

Authors
  1. Thomas Bouvet
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  2. Benjamin Loubet
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  3. John D. Wilson
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  4. Andree Tuzet
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Correspondence to Thomas Bouvet.

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Bouvet, T., Loubet, B., Wilson, J.D. et al. Filtering of windborne particles by a natural windbreak. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 123, 481–509 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-007-9156-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-007-9156-y

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