Environmental Fluid Mechanics 

About: Environmental Fluid Mechanics is an academic journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Turbulence & Open-channel flow. It has an ISSN identifier of 1567-7419. Over the lifetime, 998 publications have been published receiving 18670 citations. The journal is also known as: EFM (2001).

The structure of the shear layer in flows over rigid and flexible canopies

Abstract: Flume experiments were conducted with rigid and flexible model vegetation to study the structure of coherent vortices (a manifestation of the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability) and vertical transport in shallow vegetated shear flows. The vortex street in a vegetated shear layer creates a pronounced oscillation in the velocity profile, with the velocity near the top of a model canopy varying by a factor of three during vortex passage. In turn, this velocity oscillation drives the coherent waving of flexible canopies. Relative to flows over rigid vegetation, the oscillation in canopy geometry has the effect of decreasing the amount of turbulent vertical momentum transport in the shear layer. Using a waving plant to determine phase in the vortex cycle, each vortex is shown to consist of a strong sweep at its front (during which the canopy is most deflected), followed by a weak ejection at its rear (when the canopy height is at a maximum). Whereas in unobstructed mixing layers the vortices span the entire layer, they encompass only 70% of the flexibly obstructed shear layer studied here.

Integral Model for Turbulent Buoyant Jets in Unbounded Stratified Flows. Part I: Single Round Jet

Abstract: The mechanics of buoyant jet flows issuing with a general three-dimensional geometry into an unbounded ambient environment with uniform density or stable density stratification and under stagnant or steady sheared current conditions is investigated. An integral model is formulated for the conservation of mass, momentum, buoyancy and scalar quantities in the turbulent jet flow. The model employs an entrainment closure approach that distinguishes between the separate contributions of transverse shear (leading to jet, plume, or wake internal flow dynamics) and of azimuthal shear mechanisms (leading to advected momentum puff or thermal flow dynamics), respectively. Furthermore, it contains a quadratic law turbulent drag force mechanism as suggested by a number of recent detailed experimental investigations on the dynamics of transverse jets into crossflow. The model is validated in several stages: First, comparison with basic experimental data for the five asymptotic, self-similar stages of buoyant jet flows, i.e., the pure jet, the pure plume, the pure wake, the advected line puff, and the advected line thermal, support the choice and magnitude of the turbulent closure coefficients contained in the entrainment formulation. Second, comparison with many types of non-equilibrium flows support the proposed transition function within the entrainment relationship, and also the role of the drag force in the jet deflection dynamics. Third, a number of spatial limits of applicability have been proposed beyond which the integral model necessarily becomes invalid due to its parabolic formulation. These conditions, often related to the breakdown of the boundary layer nature of the flow, describe features such as terminal layer formation in stratification, upstream penetration in jets opposing a current, or transition to passive diffusion in a turbulent ambient shear flow. Based on all these comparisons, that include parameters such as trajectories, centerline velocities, concentrations and dilutions, the model appears to provide an accurate and reliable representation of buoyant jet physics under highly general flow conditions.

Filament-based atmospheric dispersion model to achieve short time-scale structure of odor plumes

Abstract: This article presents the theoretical motivation, implementation approach, and example validation results for a computationally efficient plume simulation model, designed to replicate both the short-term time signature and long-term exposure statistics of a chemical plume evolving in a turbulent flow. Within the resulting plume, the odor concentration is intermittent with rapidly changing spatial gradient. The model includes a wind field defined over the region of interest that is continuous, but which varies with location and time in both magnitude and direction. The plume shape takes a time varying sinuous form that is determined by the integrated effect of the wind field. Simulated and field data are compared. The motivation for the development of such a simulation model was the desire to evaluate various strategies for tracing odor plumes to their source, under identical conditions. The performance of such strategies depends in part on the instantaneous response of target receptors; therefore, the sequence of events is of considerable consequence and individual exemplar plume realizations are required. Due to the high number of required simulations, computational efficiency was critically important.

Monitoring the transport of biomass burning emissions in South America

Abstract: The atmospheric transport of biomass burning emissions in the South American and African continents is being monitored annually using a numerical simulation of air mass motions; we use a tracer transport capability developed within RAMS (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System) coupled to an emission model. Mass conservation equations are solved for carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate material (PM2.5). Source emissions of trace gases and particles associated with biomass burning activities in tropical forest, savanna and pasture have been parameterized and introduced into the model. The sources are distributed spatially and temporally and assimilated daily using the biomass burning locations detected by remote sensing. Advection effects (at grid scale) and turbulent transport (at sub-grid scale) are provided by the RAMS parameterizations. A sub-grid transport parameterization associated with moist deep and shallow convection, not explicitly resolved by the model due to its low spatial resolution, has also been introduced. Sinks associated with the process of wet and dry removal of aerosol particles and chemical transformation of gases are parameterized and introduced in the mass conservation equation. An operational system has been implemented which produces daily 48-h numerical simulations (including 24-h forecasts) of CO and PM2.5, in addition to traditional meteorological fields. The good prediction skills of the model are demonstrated by comparisons with time series of PM2.5 measured at the surface.

Interaction between flow, transport and vegetation spatial structure

Abstract: This paper summarizes recent advances in vegetation hydrodynamics and uses the new concepts to explore not only how vegetation impacts flow and transport, but also how flow feedbacks can influence vegetation spatial structure. Sparse and dense submerged canopies are defined based on the relative contribution of turbulent stress and canopy drag to the momentum balance. In sparse canopies turbulent stress remains elevated within the canopy and suspended sediment concentration is comparable to that in unvegetated regions. In dense canopies turbulent stress is reduced by canopy drag and suspended sediment concentration is also reduced. Further, for dense canopies, the length-scale of turbulence penetration into the canopy, δe, is shown to predict both the roughness height and the displacement height of the overflow profile. In a second case study, the relation between flow speed and spatial structure of a seagrass meadow gives insight into the stability of different spatial structures, defined by the area fraction covered by vegetation. In the last case study, a momentum balance suggests that in natural channels the total resistance is set predominantly by the area fraction occupied by vegetation, called the blockage factor, with little direct dependence on the specific canopy morphology.