Abstract
When modelling the turbulent dispersion of a passive tracer using Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations, two different approaches can be used. The first consists of solving a transport equation for a scalar, where the governing parameters are the mean velocity field and the turbulent diffusion coefficient, given by the ratio of the turbulent viscosity and the turbulent Schmidt number Sc t . The second approach uses a Lagrangian particle tracking algorithm, where the governing parameters are the mean velocity and the fluctuating velocity field, which is determined from the turbulence kinetic energy and the Lagrangian time T L . A comparison between the two approaches and wind-tunnel data for the dispersion in the wake of a rectangular building immersed in a neutral atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is presented. Particular attention was paid to the influence of turbulence model parameters on the flow and concentration field. In addition, an approach to estimate Sc t and T L based on the calculated flow field is proposed. The results show that applying modified turbulence model constants to enable correct modelling of the ABL improves the prediction for the velocity and concentration fields when the modification is restricted to the region for which it was derived. The difference between simulated and measured concentrations is smaller than 25% or the uncertainty of the data on 76% of the points when solving the transport equation for a scalar with the proposed formulation for Sc t , and on 69% of the points when using the Lagrangian particle tracking with the proposed formulation for T L .
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beranek W (1979) General rules for the determination of wind environment. In: Proceedings of the 5th international conference on wind engineering, pp 225–234
Blocken B, Carmeliet J, Stathopoulos T (2007a) CFD evaluation of wind speed conditions in passages between parallel buildings—effect of wall-function roughness modifications for the atmospheric boundary layer flow. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 95: 941–962
Blocken B, Stathopoulos T, Carmeliet J (2007b) CFD simulation of the atmospheric boundary layer: wall function problems. Atmos Environ 41: 238–252
Blocken B, Stathopoulos T, Saathoff P, Wang X (2008) Numerical evaluation of pollutant dispersion in the built environment: comparisons between models and experiments. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 96: 1817–1831
Castro I, Robins A (1977) The flow around a surface-mounted cube in uniform and turbulent streams. J Fluid Mech 79(2): 307–335
Di Sabatino S, Buccolieri R, Pulvirenti B, Britter R (2007) Simulations of pollutant dispersion within idealised urban-type geometries with CFD and integral models. Atmos Environ 41: 8316–8329
Donat J (1995) Windkanalexperimente zur ausbreitung von schwergasstrahlen. PhD thesis, University of Hamburg, Meteorological Institute, 179 pp
Fluent Inc. (2006) Fluent 6.3 Users’s Guide, 2501 pp
Franke J, Hirsch C, Jensen A, Krus H, Schatzmann M, Westbury P, Miles S, Wisse J, Wright N (2004) Recommendations on the use of CFD in wind engineering. In: COST Action C14, Impact of wind and storm on city life built environment, von Karman Institute, pp C1.1–C1.11
Franke J, Hellsten A, Schlunzen H, Carissimo B (eds) (2007) Best practice guideline for the CFD simulation of flows in the urban environment—COST Action 732. COST office, 52 pp
Gao Y, Chow W (2005) Numerical studies on air flow around a cube. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 93: 115–135
Gorlé C, van Beeck J, Rambaud P, van Tendeloo G (2009) CFD modelling of small particle dispersion: the influence of the turbulence kinetic energy in the atmospheric boundary layer. Atmos Environ 43: 673–681
Hargreaves D, Wright N (2007) On the use of the k–ε model in commercial CFD software to model the neutral atmospheric boundary layer. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 95: 355–369
Kato M, Launder B (1993) The modeling of turbulent flow around stationary and vibrating square cylinders. In: Proceedings of 9th symposium on turbulence and shear flows, pp 1–6
Lakehal D, Rodi W (1997) Calculation of the flow past a surface-mounted cube with two-layer turbulence models. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 67&68: 65–78
Leitl B (1998) Cedval at Hamburg University. http://www.mi.uni-hamburg.de/Introducti.433.0.html. Accessed 23 Jan 2010
Lim H, Thomas T, Castro I (2009) Flow around a cube in a turbulent boundary layer: LES and experiment. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 97: 96–109
Nakiboglu G, Gorlé C, Horváth I, van Beeck J, Blocken B (2009) Stack gas dispersion measurements with large scale-piv, aspiration probes and light scattering techniques and comparison with CFD. Atmos Environ 43: 3396–3406
Oesterlé B (2006) Ecoulements multiphasiques—des fondements aux methodes d’ingénierie. Hermès, Lavoisier, p 319
Pope S (2008) Turbulent flows. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 771
Richards P, Hoxey R (1993) Appropriate boundary conditions for computational wind engineering models using the k–ε turbulence model. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 46(47): 145–153
Riddle A, Carruthers D, Sharpe A, McHugh C, Stocker J (2004) Comparisons between FLUENT and ADMS for atmospheric dispersion modelling. Atmos Environ 38: 1029–1038
Saathoff P, Stathopoulos T, Wu H (1998) The influence of freestream turbulence on nearfield dilution of exhaust from building vents. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 77&78: 741–752
Schatzmann M, Leitl B (2002) Validation and application of obstacle resolving dispersion models. Atmos Environ 36: 4811–4821
Shah K, Ferziger J (1997) A fluid mechanicians view of wind engineering: large eddy simulation of flow past a cubic obstacle. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 67&68: 211–224
Tominaga Y, Stathopoulos T (2007) Turbulent Schmidt numbers for CFD analysis with various types of flowfield. Atmos Environ 41: 8091–8099
Yang W, Jin X, Jin H, Gu M, Chen S (2007) Application of new inflow boundary conditions for modeling equilibrium atmosphere boundary layer in RANS-based turbulence models. In: Proceedings of international conference on wind engineering, pp 591–598
Yang W, Quan Y, Jin X, Tamura Y, Gu M, Gu M, Chen S (2008) Influences of equilibrium atmosphere boundary layer and turbulence model parameter on wind loads of low-rise buildings. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 96: 2080–2092
Yang Y, Gu M, Chen S, Jin X, Jin H, Gu M, Chen S (2009) New inflow boundary conditions for modelling the neutral equilibrium atmospheric boundary layer in computational wind engineering. J Wind Eng Ind Aerodyn 97: 88–95
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gorlé, C., van Beeck, J. & Rambaud, P. Dispersion in the Wake of a Rectangular Building: Validation of Two Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes Modelling Approaches. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 137, 115–133 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-010-9521-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-010-9521-0