4 research outputs found
Joint PDF modelling of turbulent flow and dispersion in an urban street canyon
The joint probability density function (PDF) of turbulent velocity and
concentration of a passive scalar in an urban street canyon is computed using a
newly developed particle-in-cell Monte Carlo method. Compared to moment
closures, the PDF methodology provides the full one-point one-time PDF of the
underlying fields containing all higher moments and correlations. The
small-scale mixing of the scalar released from a concentrated source at the
street level is modelled by the interaction by exchange with the conditional
mean (IECM) model, with a micro-mixing time scale designed for geometrically
complex settings. The boundary layer along no-slip walls (building sides and
tops) is fully resolved using an elliptic relaxation technique, which captures
the high anisotropy and inhomogeneity of the Reynolds stress tensor in these
regions. A less computationally intensive technique based on wall functions to
represent boundary layers and its effect on the solution are also explored. The
calculated statistics are compared to experimental data and large-eddy
simulation. The present work can be considered as the first example of
computation of the full joint PDF of velocity and a transported passive scalar
in an urban setting. The methodology proves successful in providing high level
statistical information on the turbulence and pollutant concentration fields in
complex urban scenarios.Comment: Accepted in Boundary-Layer Meteorology, Feb. 19, 200