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Numerical simulation of particle trajectories in inhomogeneous turbulence, II: Systems with variable turbulent velocity scale

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Abstract

It is shown that for the purpose of trajectory simulation, the vertical velocityw L (t) of a fluid element, which is moving in a system (such as a forest canopy, or the unstably stratified atmospheric surface layer) whose turbulent velocity scale σ w is height-dependent, must be chosen from a frequency-distribution which is asymmetric aboutw L = 0. If the gradient ∂σ w /∂z varies only slowly with height, correct trajectories may be obtained by adding a bias\(\bar w_L = \Lambda _L \partial \sigma _w /\partial z\) (where Λ L is the length scale) to a fluctuating velocity chosen from a symmetric distribution with variance σ w 2(z).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Land Resource Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

    G. W. Thurtell & G. E. Kidd

  2. New Zealand Meteorological Service, P.O. Box 722, Wellington, New Zealand

    J. D. Wilson

Authors
  1. J. D. Wilson
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  2. G. W. Thurtell
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  3. G. E. Kidd
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Wilson, J.D., Thurtell, G.W. & Kidd, G.E. Numerical simulation of particle trajectories in inhomogeneous turbulence, II: Systems with variable turbulent velocity scale. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 21, 423–441 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02033592

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02033592

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