The drag length is key to quantifying tree canopy drag

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Majumdar, Dipanjan, Vita, Giulio, Ramponi, Rubina, Glover, Nina, van Reeuwijk, Maarten
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Majumdar, Dipanjan
Vita, Giulio
Ramponi, Rubina
Glover, Nina
van Reeuwijk, Maarten
author_facet Majumdar, Dipanjan
Vita, Giulio
Ramponi, Rubina
Glover, Nina
van Reeuwijk, Maarten
contents The effects of trees on urban flows are often determined using computational fluid dynamics approaches which typically use a quadratic drag formulation based on the leaf-area density $a$ and a volumetric drag coefficient $C_{d}^V$ to model vegetation. In this paper, we develop an analytical model for the flow within a vegetation canopy and identify that the drag length $\ell_d = (a C_d^V)^{-1}$ is the key metric to describe the local tree drag characteristics. A detailed study of the literature suggests that the median $\ell_d$ observed in field experiments is $21$ m for trees and $0.7$ m for low vegetation (crops). A total of $168$ large-eddy simulations are conducted to obtain a closed form of the analytical model. The model allows determining $a$ and $C_d^V$ from wind-tunnel experiments that typically present the drag characteristics in terms of the classical drag coefficient $C_d$ and the aerodynamic porosity $α_L$. We show that geometric scaling of $\ell_d$ is the appropriate scaling of trees in wind tunnels. Evaluation of $\ell_d$ for numerical simulations and wind-tunnel experiments (assuming geometric scaling $1:100$) in literature shows that the median $\ell_d$ in both these cases is about $5$ m, suggesting possible overestimation of vegetative drag.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_01570
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The drag length is key to quantifying tree canopy drag
Majumdar, Dipanjan
Vita, Giulio
Ramponi, Rubina
Glover, Nina
van Reeuwijk, Maarten
Fluid Dynamics
The effects of trees on urban flows are often determined using computational fluid dynamics approaches which typically use a quadratic drag formulation based on the leaf-area density $a$ and a volumetric drag coefficient $C_{d}^V$ to model vegetation. In this paper, we develop an analytical model for the flow within a vegetation canopy and identify that the drag length $\ell_d = (a C_d^V)^{-1}$ is the key metric to describe the local tree drag characteristics. A detailed study of the literature suggests that the median $\ell_d$ observed in field experiments is $21$ m for trees and $0.7$ m for low vegetation (crops). A total of $168$ large-eddy simulations are conducted to obtain a closed form of the analytical model. The model allows determining $a$ and $C_d^V$ from wind-tunnel experiments that typically present the drag characteristics in terms of the classical drag coefficient $C_d$ and the aerodynamic porosity $α_L$. We show that geometric scaling of $\ell_d$ is the appropriate scaling of trees in wind tunnels. Evaluation of $\ell_d$ for numerical simulations and wind-tunnel experiments (assuming geometric scaling $1:100$) in literature shows that the median $\ell_d$ in both these cases is about $5$ m, suggesting possible overestimation of vegetative drag.
title The drag length is key to quantifying tree canopy drag
topic Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.01570