A conservative immersed boundary method for the multi-physics urban large-eddy simulation model uDALES v2.0
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Published version
Author(s)
Owens, Sam
Majumdar, Dipanjan
Wilson, Chris
Bartholomew, Paul
van Reeuwijk, Maarten
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
uDALES is an open-source multi-physics microscale urban modelling framework, capable of performing large-eddy simulation (LES) of urban airflow, heat transfer, and pollutant dispersion. We present uDALES v2.0, which has two main new features: 1) an improved parallelisation that prepares the codebase for conducting exascale simulations; and 2) a conservative immersed boundary method (IBM) suitable for an urban surface that does not need to be aligned with the underlying Cartesian grid. The urban geometry and local topography are incorporated via a triangulated surface with a resolution that is independent of the fluid grid. The IBM developed here includes the use of wall functions to apply surface fluxes, and the exchange of heat and moisture between the surface and the air is conservative by construction. We perform a number of validation simulations, ranging from neutral, coupled internal-external flows and non-neutral cases. Good agreement is observed, both in cases in which the buildings are aligned with the Cartesian grid and when they are at an angle. We introduce a validation case specifically for urban applications, for which we show that supporting non grid-aligned geometries is crucial when solving surface energy balances, with errors of up to 20 % associated with using a previous version of uDALES.
Date Issued
2024-08
Date Acceptance
2024-06-19
Citation
Geoscientific Model Development, 2024, 17 (16), pp.6277-6300
ISSN
1991-959X
Publisher
Copernicus Publications
Start Page
6277
End Page
6300
Journal / Book Title
Geoscientific Model Development
Volume
17
Issue
16
Copyright Statement
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
License URL
Identifier
https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/17/6277/2024/
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2024-08-26