Weihong Zhu

A comparative quadrant analysis of turbulence in a plant canopy

Large-eddy simulation (LES) of turbulence in plant canopies has traditionally been validated using bulk statistical quantities such as mean velocity and variance profiles. However, turbulent exchanges between a plant canopy and the atmosphere are dominated by large-scale coherent structures, and therefore LES must also be validated using statistical tools that are sensitive to details of coherent structures. In this study, LES and measurements using particle image velocimetry (PIV) are compared near the top of the canopy by means of a quadrant-hole analysis of turbulent kinetic energy, vorticity, and dissipation rate. The LES resolves coarse features of individual corn plants and uses the Lagrangian scale-dependent dynamic subgrid model. At the measurement location, there is good agreement between the LES predictions and the field data in terms of most conditionally sampled quantities, confirming the applicability of LES for fundamental studies of vegetation-air interactions and coherent structures. The simulation results confirm that sweeps (the fourth-quadrant events) contribute the largest fraction of turbulent kinetic energy, vorticity, and dissipation rate inside the plant canopy. The magnitudes of the vorticity and dissipation rate at the top of the canopy are highest in the first quadrant (rare events of outward interactions).

Distribution of Energy Spectra, Reynolds Stresses, Turbulence Production, and Dissipation in a Tidally Driven Bottom Boundary Layer

Abstract Seven sets of 2D particle image velocimetry data obtained in the bottom boundary layer of the coastal ocean along the South Carolina and Georgia coast [at the South Atlantic Bight Synoptic Offshore Observational Network (SABSOON) site] are examined, covering the accelerating and decelerating phases of a single tidal cycle at several heights above the seabed. Additional datasets from a previous deployment are also included in the analysis. The mean velocity profiles are logarithmic, and the vertical distribution of Reynolds stresses normalized by the square of the free stream velocity collapse well for data obtained at the same elevation but at different phases of the tidal cycle. The magnitudes of 〈u′u′〉, 〈w′w′〉, and −〈u′w′〉 decrease with height above bottom in the 25–160-cm elevation range and are consistent with the magnitudes and trends observed in laboratory turbulent boundary layers. If a constant stress layer exists, it is located below 25-cm elevation. Two methods for estimating dissipatio...

PIV Measurements in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer within and above a Mature Corn Canopy. Part II: Quadrant-Hole Analysis

Abstract Quadrant-hole (Q-H) analysis is applied to PIV data acquired just within and above a mature corn canopy. The Reynolds shear stresses, transverse components of vorticity, as well as turbulence production and cascading part of dissipation rates are conditionally sampled in each quadrant, based on stress and vorticity magnitudes. The stresses are representative of large-scale events, while the vorticity is dominated by small-scale shear. Dissipation rates (cascading energy fluxes) are evaluated by fitting −5/3 slope lines to the conditionally sampled and averaged spatial energy spectra, while the Reynolds stresses, vorticity, and production rates are calculated directly from the spatial distributions of two velocity components. The results demonstrate that sweep (quadrant 4) and ejection (quadrant 2) events are the dominant contributors to the Reynolds shear stress, consistent with previous observations. The analysis also shows a strong correlation between magnitudes of dissipation rate and vorticit...

PIV Measurements in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer within and above a Mature Corn Canopy. Part I: Statistics and Energy Flux

Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements just within and above a mature corn canopy have been performed to clarify the small-scale spatial structure of the turbulence. The smallest resolved scales are about 15 times the Kolmogorov length scale ( 0.4 mm), the Taylor microscales are about 100, and the Taylor scale Reynolds numbers range between R 2000 and 3000. The vertical profiles of mean flow and turbulence parameters match those found in previous studies. Frequency spectra, obtained using the data as time series, are combined with instantaneous spatial spectra to resolve more than five orders of magnitude of length scales. They display an inertial range spanning three decades. However, the small-scale turbulence in the dissipation range exhibits anisotropy at all measurement heights, in spite of apparent agreement with conditions for reaching local isotropy, following a high-Reynolds-number wind tunnel study. Directly calculated subgrid-scale (SGS) energy flux, determined by spatially filtering the PIV data, increases significantly with decreasing filter size, providing support for the existence of a spectral shortcut that bypasses the cascading process and injects energy directly into small scales. The highest measured SGS flux is about 40% of the estimated energy cascading rate as determined from a5/3 fit to the spectra. Terms appearing in the turbulent kinetic energy budget that can be calculated from the PIV data are in agreement with previous results. Evidence of a very strong correlation between dissipation rate and out-of-plane component of the vorticity is demonstrated by a striking similarity between their time series.