Search Results (8)

In suspended mussel farms, culture-layer food supply can be limited, whereas the 4–8 m subsurface layer is rich in particulate organic matter and seston. Using a representative aquaculture block off Gouqi Island, China, this study examined the hydrodynamic and transport effects of non-uniform hanging-depth layouts. The 0° uniform-depth layout was the reference. Five configurations were modeled: V-shaped, inverted V-shaped, uniform-depth (90° inflow), V-shaped (extended), and inverted V-shaped (extended). Flume PIV validated the model. Simulations used uniform and measured velocity-profile inflows, with and without density stratification; a passive tracer tracked seston-rich water from the 4–8 m layer. Uniform-depth hanging formed a low-velocity zone in the sleeve layer, limiting water exchange. Non-uniform layouts altered drag distribution and promoted tracer redistribution into overlying 3–5 m waters. In the V-shaped configuration, water was guided upward along sleeve bottoms in the downstream half of the aquaculture block (S2), where pronounced redistribution within the aquaculture block resulted in a tracer concentration of approximately 0.1362 in the 2–3 m layer. Stratification constrained upward spreading, whereas extended configurations may limit food replenishment through enhanced upper-layer blockage and filtering effects. Low-Richardson-number regions corresponded with tracer uplift and enhanced spreading, indicating local shear. Overall, the V-shaped configuration balanced in-farm replenishment, downstream transport, and flow maintenance without additional sleeve length. Full article

Urban areas significantly influence atmospheric flow fields and momentum exchange processes, which are relevant for wind energy applications and meso-scale atmospheric modeling. However, meso-scale simulations typically represent urban effects using surface roughness parameterizations that neglect volumetric momentum losses within the urban canopy layer. In this study, a methodology is presented to derive a volumetric urban canopy parameterization directly from building-resolved computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. A detailed micro-scale CFD simulation of a real urban region is used to evaluate the momentum balance within a control volume surrounding the urban region. Based on this analysis, two key parameters are derived: the vertical distribution of the House Area Density (HAD), representing the geometric characteristics of the urban morphology, and an effective drag coefficient describing the momentum loss induced by the built environment. These parameters are subsequently implemented as volumetric source terms in a urban canopy model formulated analogously to plant canopy parameterizations. The resulting urban canopy model is validated by comparison with the fully resolved CFD simulation. The results show good agreement in the streamwise momentum balance and pressure loss distribution, while computational cost is significantly reduced. The proposed urban canopy model provides a physically consistent framework for representing urban momentum sinks in meso-scale flow simulations. Full article

Wind resource assessment (WRA) in densely forested and complex terrain remains challenging due to strong canopy-induced turbulence and enhanced wind shear, which significantly affect wind flow characteristics and increase modeling uncertainties. Methods relying on Plant Area Density (PAD) or Leaf Area Density (LAD) estimation require costly airborne surveys and site-specific calibration, limiting their industrial applicability. Based on a scientific collaboration between Meteodyn and EDF Power, this study proposes a complete and reproducible Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methodology built around an Iterative Model Adjustment (IMA) procedure implemented in Meteodyn WT™ to improve wind resource assessment accuracy in highly forested areas using standard industrial inputs. The IMA procedure iteratively calibrates the canopy drag coefficient and forest model parameters using wind speed profile measurements from a single reference mast until the simulated wind shear matches observations. The methodology was evaluated at three sites located in Finland, France, and Scotland, yielding six calibration and cross-prediction cases under heterogeneous forest and complex terrain conditions. Cross-prediction uncertainties were reduced significantly, with horizontal mean speed errors decreasing from the range [1.0–9.5%] to [0.5–2.2%] and a global mean absolute error of approximately 1.1%. The study provides new physical insight into the sensitivity of the canopy drag force term within RANS-based forest models, showing that both drag coefficient and canopy height have a comparable and jointly necessary influence on wind shear simulation. These findings demonstrate that robust and accurate wind resource assessment can be achieved in complex terrain and forested areas without relying on remote-sensing-derived canopy density datasets, providing a pragmatic and industrially scalable alternative. Full article

Thisreview provides a comprehensive synthesis of recent theoretical and experimental advances on turbulent plane jets interacting with surface waves or rigid vegetation. In wave-affected conditions, a unified mathematical framework based on velocity decomposition and the integral balances of momentum and energy reveals the fundamental scaling laws governing jet spreading and momentum exchange. The analysis demonstrates that wave-induced shear alters classical entrainment mechanisms, leading to modified power-law relationships for jet width and centerline velocity, consistent with laboratory and numerical evidence. In obstructed environments, such as canopies of rigid or flexible vegetation, distributed drag induces a transition from entrainment to detrainment. The resulting momentum loss is captured analytically by incorporating drag-induced dissipation into the Reynolds-averaged momentum equations, yielding exponential decay of jet momentum and reduced mixing efficiency. Together, these models elucidate how environmental forcing—dynamic (waves) and structural (vegetation)—controls the evolution of turbulent jets in natural and engineered aquatic systems. The review highlights key scaling relationships, theoretical developments, and experimental findings, offering a coherent basis for future studies on mixing, dispersion, and transport in complex coastal and vegetated flows. Full article

This paper investigates the aerodynamic behavior of Basil (i.e., Ocimum basilicum) and Mentuccia (i.e., Clinopodium nepeta (L.) Kuntze), emphasizing the impact of plant structure on drag force. In this paper, the drag coefficient is assessed for the two crop species under various configurations, starting from the pressure drop measured through wind tunnel tests. The methodology involves an innovative use of image processing techniques to determine the leaf area density (LAD) for both Basil and Mentuccia. This approach allows for a precise differentiation between leaf areas and crop pores, crucial for accurate aerodynamic analysis. For Basil, LAD values ranged from 2.41 to 5.08 m² · m⁻³, while Mentuccia displayed LAD values between 1.17 and 1.93 m² · m⁻³, depending on the crop configuration. This study provides the relationship between plant morphology, canopy density, and drag coefficient, highlighting how these aspects are influenced by different wind velocities. These results are fundamental and necessary for the proper definition of crop behavior and the aerodynamic parameters in Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations. This knowledge is not only fundamental to the field of agricultural aerodynamics but also has significant implications for optimizing crop planting and arrangement, leading to more efficient farming practices and better understanding of plant–environment interactions. Full article

Floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) are widely used in surface water. The nutrient removal performance depends on both physical processes and chemical/biological transformations in FTWs. However, research describing the coupling processes of hydrodynamic and water quality in the system remains limited. Therefore, a coupled three-dimensional model of hydrodynamic and water quality for FTWs was developed based on the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC). Additional plant drag terms were added to the momentum equations to simulate the suspended canopy effect, and the chemical/biological processes occurring in FTWs were integrated into the original water quality equations simultaneously. The fully calibrated model was used to compare the hydrodynamic characteristics and nutrient removal performance of seven FTW configurations. The modeling results showed that the main stream would turn to the bottom and side of the plant root zone because of the block in FTWs. The differences in the hydrodynamic characteristics among the seven configurations led to a difference in water quality improvement effects. Segmenting a single FTW into a pair of parallel FTWs could achieve the maximum nitrogen and phosphorus mass removal. The results of the study are useful for designing an optimal FTW configuration in surface water. Full article

Thermal convective flows are common phenomena in real urban canyons and strongly affect the mechanisms of pollutant removal from the canyon. The present contribution aims at investigating the complex interaction between inertial and thermal forces within the canyon, including the impacts on turbulent features and pollutant removal mechanisms. Large-eddy simulations reproduce infinitely long square canyons having isothermal and differently heated facades. A scalar source on the street mimics the pollutant released by traffic. The presence of heated facades triggers convective flows which generate an interaction region around the canyon-ambient interface, characterised by highly energetic turbulent fluxes and an increase of momentum and mass exchange. The presence of this region of high mixing facilitates the pollutant removal across the interface and decreases the urban canopy drag. The heating-up of upwind facade determines favourable convection that strengthens the primary internal vortex and decreases the pollutant concentration of the whole canyon by $49\%$ compare to the isothermal case. The heating-up of the downwind facade produces adverse convection counteracting the wind-induced motion. Consequently, the primary vortex is less energetic and confined in the upper-canyon area, while a region of almost zero velocity and high pollution concentration ($40\%$ more than the isothermal case) appears at the pedestrian level. Finally, numerical analyses allow a definition of a local Richardson number based on in-canyon quantities only and a new formulation is proposed to characterise the thermo-dynamics regimes. Full article

It is very challenging to capture the drag effects for the computational fluid dynamics numerical simulations of the urban canopy wind environment. This study proposed a novel canopy drag coefficient model for accurate analysis of the urban wind environment based on a large eddy simulation, where the drag coefficients varied with quantitatively identified canopy parameters along with the height. Four computational parameters, namely the average kinetic energy, turbulent kinetic energy, sub-grid scale turbulent kinetic energy, and sub-grid scale dissipation, were incorporated into the conventional drag coefficient. The Meixi Lake International Community in Changsha, China, was considered as a case study. The inlet boundary conditions were provided by the Weather Research and Forecasting model, and the proposed drag coefficient model was utilized to simulate the wind field characteristics. The results showed that the drag coefficient was relatively large near the ground, and it decreased with the increase of height overall. The decay rate of the drag coefficient below 0.4 times the building was significantly higher than the other areas. Finally, compared with the field measurement data, the proposed model had good accuracy of the simulated wind field compared to previous approaches, thus offering a reliable model for analyzing the urban wind environment. Full article