Scaling analysis for buoyant plumes over wildland fires

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Desai, Ajinkya, Cervantes, Antonio Quim, Banerjee, Tirtha
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Desai, Ajinkya
Cervantes, Antonio Quim
Banerjee, Tirtha
author_facet Desai, Ajinkya
Cervantes, Antonio Quim
Banerjee, Tirtha
contents Tracking the structure and geometric properties of a buoyant plume in cross-wind is critical for managing smoke hazards and improving disaster mitigation efforts. Plume features, such as the tilt angle, centerline trajectory, plume height, and curvature changes with height, are impacted by a range of forcing parameters, with the altered turbulence patterns induced by a vegetative canopy introducing an added layer of complexity. This study examines the effects of these parameters, reduced to a set of fewer dimensionless groups, on the plume centerline slope both, near the surface and in the far-field (bent-over phase). Results from a suite of large-eddy simulations in both canopy and no-canopy environments explore power-law dependencies between the slopes and key dimensionless groups describing (1) the relative strength of the buoyancy source to the ambient wind forcing and (2) the turbulence intensity within the plume relative to upstream. Near-surface slopes are an order of magnitude higher in the canopy cases owing to canopy drag. In the canopy cases, the near-surface plume slope increases markedly with increase in the dimensionless plume turbulence intensity, exhibiting a one-fourth power-law dependence. This effect is absent in the no-canopy case, reflecting spatial differences in the momentum-flux structure near the plume source between the two environments. Moreover, the canopy aerodynamic effects delay the transition of the plume from the rise phase into the far-field compared to the no-canopy cases. The transition height follows a one-fourth and one-third power-law dependence on group (1) in the canopy and no-canopy environments, respectively, with canopy effects becoming less prominent at higher buoyancy source strength. Our findings support the development of scaling laws for plume structures across varied environments and inform improved predictive modeling.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_13189
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Scaling analysis for buoyant plumes over wildland fires
Desai, Ajinkya
Cervantes, Antonio Quim
Banerjee, Tirtha
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Tracking the structure and geometric properties of a buoyant plume in cross-wind is critical for managing smoke hazards and improving disaster mitigation efforts. Plume features, such as the tilt angle, centerline trajectory, plume height, and curvature changes with height, are impacted by a range of forcing parameters, with the altered turbulence patterns induced by a vegetative canopy introducing an added layer of complexity. This study examines the effects of these parameters, reduced to a set of fewer dimensionless groups, on the plume centerline slope both, near the surface and in the far-field (bent-over phase). Results from a suite of large-eddy simulations in both canopy and no-canopy environments explore power-law dependencies between the slopes and key dimensionless groups describing (1) the relative strength of the buoyancy source to the ambient wind forcing and (2) the turbulence intensity within the plume relative to upstream. Near-surface slopes are an order of magnitude higher in the canopy cases owing to canopy drag. In the canopy cases, the near-surface plume slope increases markedly with increase in the dimensionless plume turbulence intensity, exhibiting a one-fourth power-law dependence. This effect is absent in the no-canopy case, reflecting spatial differences in the momentum-flux structure near the plume source between the two environments. Moreover, the canopy aerodynamic effects delay the transition of the plume from the rise phase into the far-field compared to the no-canopy cases. The transition height follows a one-fourth and one-third power-law dependence on group (1) in the canopy and no-canopy environments, respectively, with canopy effects becoming less prominent at higher buoyancy source strength. Our findings support the development of scaling laws for plume structures across varied environments and inform improved predictive modeling.
title Scaling analysis for buoyant plumes over wildland fires
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.13189