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Large-Eddy Simulations of the Flow Over an Isolated Three-Dimensional Hill

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Abstract

Atmospheric three-dimensional (3D) mean and turbulent flow over an isolated 3D hill of cosine-squared cross-section and a smooth surface are studied by large-eddy simulations validated against data from a wind-tunnel experiment. Many features of the 3D flow across the hill are identified through analyzing mean and turbulent quantities on three surfaces, including a vertical cross-section across the hilltop, and surfaces of vertical distances of 0.25h and 1.25h from the ground, where h is the hill height. Besides flow blocking and separation with a recirculation region immediately upstream and downstream of the hill, respectively, a spiral-shaped structure wandering in both the lateral and vertical directions develops, accompanied by the wake and shear regions where sweep and ejection events play different roles in momentum transfer. The secondary rotations in the wake flow as well as the inner and outer rotations associated with the core vortex are also identified, together with other features.

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Acknowledgements

Z. Liu acknowledges the support by the National Key Research and Development Plan of China (2016YFE0127900 and 2016YFC0800206), the National Natural Science Foundations of China (51608220), and the Project of Innovation-driven Plan in Huazhong University of Science and Technology (2017KFYXJJ141). S. Cao acknowledges support by the National Natural Science Foundations of China (51720105005). H. Liu acknowledges support by the National Science Foundation (NSF-AGS-1419614).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China

    Zhenqing Liu

  2. State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

    Shuyang Cao

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

    Heping Liu

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Takeshi Ishihara

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  1. Zhenqing Liu
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  2. Shuyang Cao
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  4. Takeshi Ishihara
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Correspondence to Heping Liu.

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Liu, Z., Cao, S., Liu, H. et al. Large-Eddy Simulations of the Flow Over an Isolated Three-Dimensional Hill. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 170, 415–441 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-018-0410-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-018-0410-2

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