LARGE EDDY SIMULATION

Chin-Hoh Moeng
NCAR

OUTLINE
WHAT IS LES?
APPLICATIONS TO PBL
FUTURE DIRECTION

WHAT IS LES?
A NUMERICAL TOOL
FOR
TURBULENT FLOWS

Turbulent Flows

governing equations, known

nonlinear term >> dissipation term
no analytical solution
highly diffusive
smallest eddies ~ mm
largest eddies --- depend on Renumber (U; L; )

Numerical methods of
studying turbulence
Reynolds-averaged modeling (RAN)
model just ensemble statistics
Direct numerical simulation (DNS)
resolve for all eddies
Large eddy simulation (LES)
intermediate approach

LES
Resolved large eddies

turbulent flow

(important eddies)

Subfilter scale, small

(not so important)

FIRST NEED TO SEPARATE THE

FLOW FIELD
Select a filter function G
Define the resolved-scale (large-eddy):

~
f ( x) f ( x)G ( x, x)dx

Find the unresolved-scale (SGS or SFS):

~
f ( x) f ( x) f ( x)

Examples of filter functions

Top-hat

Gaussian

Example: An 1-D flow field

f
l
p
Ap

r
e
t
l
i
f
y

~
f ( x) f ( x) f ( x)
large eddies

Reynolds averaged model (RAN)

Ap

e
y
l
p

em
s
n

a
e
l
b

g
v

f ( x) f ( x) f ' ( x)
non-turbulent

LES EQUATIONS
ui
ui
gi
2 ui
1 p
uj

2
t
x j
T0
xi
x j
pl
p
A

er
t
l
i
f

~
ui ui G dxdydz

~ u~ )
2~
~
~
~

(
u
u

u
u i ~ u i
g i ~ 1 p

ui
i j
i j
uj

2
t
x j T0
xi
x j
x j
SFS

Different Reynolds number

turbulent flows
Small Re flows: laboratory (tea cup) turbulence;
largest eddies ~ O(m); RAN or DNS
Medium Re flows: engineering flows;
largest eddies ~ O(10 m); RAN or DNS or LES
Large Re flows: geophysical turbulence;
largest eddies > km; RAN or LES

Geophysical turbulence

PBL (pollution layer)

boundary layer in the ocean
turbulence inside forest
deep convection
convection in the Sun
..

LES of PBL
km

resolved eddies
L

energy input

mm
SFS eddies

inertial range,

5 / 3
dissipation

Major difference between

engineer and geophysical
flows: near the wall
Engineering flow: viscous layer
Geophysical flow: inertial-subrange
layer; need to use surface-layer theory

The premise of LES

Large eddies, most energy and fluxes,
explicitly calculated
Small eddies, little energy and fluxes,
parameterized, SFS model

The premise of LES

Large eddies, most energy and fluxes,
explicitly calculated
Small eddies, little energy and fluxes,
parameterized, SFS model

LES solution is supposed to be

insensitive to SFS model

Caution
near walls, eddies small, unresolved
very stable region, eddies
intermittent
cloud physics, chemical reaction
more uncertainties

A typical setup of PBL-LES

100 x 100 x 100 points

grid sizes < tens of meters
time step < seconds
higher-order schemes, not too diffusive
spin-up time ~ 30 min, no use
simulation time ~ hours
massive parallel computers

Different PBL Flow Regimes

numerical setup
large-scale forcing
flow characteristics

Clear-air convective PBL

Convective updrafts

~ 2 km

Ug

Q
~ 5 km

Horizontal homogeneous CBL

LIDAR Observation

Local Time

Oceanic boundary layer

~ 300 m
Add vortex force for Langmuir flows

McWilliam et al 1997

Oceanic boundary layer

~ 300 m
Add vortex force for Langmuir flows

McWilliams et al 1997

Canopy turbulence

< 100 m

U0

z
~ 200 m

Add drag force---leaf area index

Patton et al 1997

Comparison with observation

observation

LES

Shallow cumulus clouds

~ 12 hr
Ug

~3 km

cloud layer
Q
~ 6 km
Add phase change---condensation/evaporation

COUPLED with SURFACE

turbulence
turbulence

heterogeneous land
ocean surface wave

Coupled with heterogeneous soil

LES model

Wet soil

Dry soil

the ground

Land model

Surface model

30 km

Coupled with heterogeneous soil

wet soil

dry soil

(Patton et al 2003)

Coupled with wavy surface

stably stratified

U-field

flat surface

stationary wave

moving wave

So far, idealized PBLs

Flat surface
Periodic in x & y
Shallow clouds

Future Direction of LES

for PBL Research
Realistic surface
complex terrain, land use, waves
PBL under severe weather

mesoscale model domain

500 km

50 km
LES domain

Computational challenge

Resolve turbulent motion in Taipei basin

~ 1000 x 1000 x 100 grid points

Massive parallel machines

Technical issues
Inflow boundary condition
SFS effect near irregular surfaces
Proper scaling; representations of
ensemble mean

How to describe a turbulent inflow?

What do we do with LES

solutions?
Understand turbulence behavior
& diffusion property
Develop/calibrate PBL models
i.e. Reynolds average models

CLASSIC EXAMPLES
Deardorff (1972; JAS)
- mixed layer scaling
Lamb (1978; atmos env)
- plume dispersion

FUTURE GOAL
Understand PBL in complex environment
and improve its parameterization
for regional and climate models

turbulent fluxes
air quality
cloud
chemical transport/reaction