A Hybrid Spectral/Finite-Volume Algorithm for Large-Eddy Simulation of Scalars in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer

Marcelo Chamecki1 , Charles Meneveau2 and Marc B. Parlange3

(1) Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering and Center for Environmental and Applied Fluid Mechanics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
(2) Department of Mechanical Engineering and Center for Environmental and Applied Fluid Mechanics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
(3) School of Architecture, Civil, and Environmental Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

ABSTRACT: Pseudospectral methods are frequently used in the horizontal directions in large-eddy simulation of atmospheric flows. However, the same approach often creates unphysical oscillations for scalar fields if there are horizontal heterogeneities in the sources and/or sinks, as is usual in air pollution problems. A hybrid approach is developed to combine the use of pseudospectral representation of the velocity field and bounded finite-volumes for the scalar concentration. An interpolation scheme that yields a divergence-free interpolated velocity field is derived and implemented, and its importance is illustrated by two sample applications.

(2008), Bound. Layer. Met.,128, 473–484.

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