Abstract
This paper describes a study of the vertical structure of concentration fluctuations in a neutrally buoyant plume from an elevated point source in slightly convective to moderately stable meteorological conditions at ranges of between 12.5 and 100 m for a range of source heights between 1 and 5 m. Observations were made of concentration fluctuations in a dispersing plume using a vertical array of sixteen very fast-response photoionization detectors placed at heights between 0.5 and 16 m. Vertical profiles of a number of concentration statistics were extracted, namely, mean concentration, fluctuation intensity, intermittency factor, peak-to-mean concentration ratio, mean dissipation rate of concentration variance, and various concentration time and length scales of dominant motions in the plume (e.g., integral macro-scale, in-plume mid-scale and Taylor micro-scale). The profiles revealed a similarity to corresponding crosswind profiles for a fully elevated plume, but showed greater and greater departure from the latter shapes once the plume had grown in the vertical so that its lower dege began to interact progressively more strongly with the ground. The evolution of the concentration probability density function at a fixed range, but with decreasing height from the ground, is similar to that obtained at a fixed height but with increasing distance from the source. Concentration power spectra obtained at different heights all had an extensive inertial-convective subrange spanning at least two decades in frequency, but spectra measured near the ground had a greater proportion of the total concentration variance in the lower frequencies (energetic subrange), with a correspondingly smaller proportion in the higher frequencies (inertial-convective subrange). It is believed that these effects result from the increased mean shear near the surface, and blocking by the surface. The effect of enhanced shear-induced molecular diffusion on concentration fluctuations is examined.
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Yee, E., Chan, R., Kosteniuk, P.R. et al. The vertical structure of concentration fluctuation statistics in plumes dispersing in the atmospheric surface layer. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 76, 41–67 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00710890
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00710890