Title: Comparison of PDFs, closure schemes and turbulence parameterisations in Lagrangian stochastic models

Authors: E. Ferrero, D. Anfossi

Addresses: Dipart. Scienze e Tecn. Avanz., Universita di Torino, sede di Alessandria, Corso Borsalino 54, I-15100, Alessandria, Italy. ' Instituto di Cosmogeofisica del CNR, Corso Fiume 4, I-10133, Torino, Italy

Abstract: Six one-dimensional models, based on the Ito-type stochastic equation, are presented and compared. Four of these take into account up to the fourth order moment of vertical velocity fluctuations, and two up to the third order moment. Four models make use of a bi-Gaussian probability density function (PDF) and the other two are based on a Gram-Charlier series expansion truncated to the third or fourth order. All the models were run with a parameterisation of input turbulence (i.e. w², w³, and τ profiles). Concerning the fourth order moment w⁴, two different parameterisations were considered. Comparisons are made between ground-level concentrations, plume height and plume width observed in the Willis and Deardorff water tank experiments and those predicted by the different models here considered. The goal of this study was to find the models that give greater confidence in their applicability in dispersion studies and to verify the importance of considering the fourth order moment. The main conclusions are: simulation results largely depend on the turbulence parameterisation chosen; the Gram-Charlier PDF gives the best agreement with observations; some combinations of models and turbulence parameterisations perform well in simulating the shape of the ground-level concentration (g.1.c.) trend but fail in correctly simulating the form of the plume (plume height and vertical width); in the case of the Gram-Charlier PDF, the fourth order model reproduced the vertical plume width better than the third order one, whereas the two schemes yielded similar g.1.c. distributions.

Keywords: air pollution; Lagrangian particle models; probability density function; turbulence parameterisation; environmental pollution; ground-level concentrations; plume height; plume width.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.1998.028253

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 1998 Vol.9 No.4, pp.384 - 410

Published online: 15 Sep 2009 *

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