Energy- and flux-budget (EFB) turbulence closure model for the stably stratified flows. Part I: Steady-state, homogeneous regimes

Abstract

We propose a new turbulence closure model based on the budget equations for the key second moments: turbulent kinetic and potential energies: TKE and TPE (comprising the turbulent total energy: TTE = TKE + TPE) and vertical turbulent fluxes of momentum and buoyancy (proportional to potential temperature). Besides the concept of TTE, we take into account the non-gradient correction to the traditional buoyancy flux formulation. The proposed model grants the existence of turbulence at any gradient Richardson number, Ri. Instead of its critical value separating - as usually assumed - the turbulent and the laminar regimes, it reveals a transition interval, 0.1< Ri <1, which separates two regimes of essentially different nature but both turbulent: strong turbulence at Ri<<1; and weak turbulence, capable of transporting momentum but much less efficient in transporting heat, at Ri>1. Predictions from this model are consistent with available data from atmospheric and lab experiments, direct numerical simulation (DNS) and large-eddy simulation (LES).

40 pages, 6 figures, Boundary-layer Meteorology, resubmitted, revised version

References in corpus (4)

• Acceleration and vortex filaments in turbulence
• Similarity theory and calculation of turbulent fluxes at the surface for the stably stratified atmospheric boundary layers
• Phenomenology of Wall Bounded Newtonian Turbulence
• Energy Conservation and Second-Order Statistics in Stably Stratified Turbulent Boundary Layers

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