Dust, Sand, and Turbulence: Transport and Feedback in the Near Surface Environment
Abstract
A key challenge in modeling dust and sand transport throughout the atmosphere lies in the fundamental particle-turbulence interactions which take place in the lower atmospheric boundary layer. The subsequent airborne spatial distributions, lofting and settling mechanisms, and effects on the surface layer winds remain severely understudied and inhibit prediction in Army-relevant regions of the boundary layer. Phenomena such as preferential concentration, where particles dynamically collect in certain regions of the flow, and two-way coupling, where the suspension of the particles modifies the surrounding turbulent motions, can cause sharp deviations of near-surface concentrations and fluxes from those predicted by traditional, similarity-based parameterizations of passive scalars. While these mechanisms have been studied in numerous engineering contexts, these are typically restricted to low Reynolds numbers (i.e., low degrees of scale separation), and therefore much remains unknown about particle transport and feedback in systems with Reynolds numbers relevant to the atmospheric surface layer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 26, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1201064
Entities
People
- David H Richter
Organizations
- University of Notre Dame