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Turbulence characteristics and organized motion in a suburban roughness sublayer

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Abstract

To investigate tubulence characteristics and organized motion within and above an urban canopy, field observations were conducted in July 1991 and November 1992 in Sapporo, Japan. The measurement heights were 5.4, 10.3, 18, 35 and 45 m above ground; the canopy height was 7 m. The profiles of σu peaked slightly above the canopy, while σv and σw had nearly uniform profiles. Vertical profiles of Reynolds stress -\(\overline {u'w'} \) peaked slightly at 1.5 times the canopy height and decreased slowly with height thereafter. A four-quadrant analysis showed that sweep and ejection motions caused high-velocity fluid from above moves downward toward the surface and low-velocity fluid from below moves upward. An ensemble-averaging technique was used to isolate typical features of the flow and temperature fields. A time-height cross-section of velocity vectors and temperature contours showed details of the flow structures associated with temperature ramps. It has been noted that the organized motions play important roles in the transport of heat near the urban canopy, where the sweep motion causes negative temperature fluctuations and the ejection motion causes positive temperature fluctuations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Engineering Department, Institute of Technology, SHIMIZU CORPORATION, No. 4-17, Etchujima, 3-chome, Koto-ku, 135, Tokyo, Japan

    Susumu Oikawa & Yan Meng

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  1. Susumu Oikawa
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  2. Yan Meng
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Oikawa, S., Meng, Y. Turbulence characteristics and organized motion in a suburban roughness sublayer. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 74, 289–312 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00712122

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