Abstract

Quantifying mixing processes relating to the transport of heat, momentum, and scalar quantities of stably stratified turbulent geophysical flows remains a substantial task. In a stably stratified flow, such as the stable atmospheric boundary layer (SABL), buoyancy forces have a significant impact on the flow characteristics. This study investigates constant and stability-dependent turbulent Prandtl number (Prt) formulations linking the turbulent viscosity (νt) and diffusivity (κt) for modeling applications of boundary layer flows. Numerical simulations of plane Couette flow and pressure-driven channel flow are performed using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) framework with the standard k-ϵ turbulence model. Results are compared with DNS data to evaluate model efficacy for predicting mean velocity and density fields. In channel flow simulations, a Prandtl number formulation for wall-bounded flows is introduced to alleviate overmixing of the mean density field. This research reveals that appropriate specification of Prt can improve predictions of stably stratified turbulent boundary layer flows.

Department(s)

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Publication Status

Open Access

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

2267-1242

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2025 The Authors, All rights reserved.

Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Publication Date

16 Oct 2015

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