Implementing Large-Eddy Simulation Capability in a Compressible Mesoscale Model

Abstract

Abstract The large size of modern wind turbines and wind farms triggers processes above the surface layer, which extend to the junction between microscales and mesoscales, and pushes the limits of existing approaches to predict the wind. The main objectives of this study are thus to introduce and evaluate an approach that will better account for physical processes within the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), and allow for both microscale and mesoscale modeling. The proposed method, in which mathematical model and main numerical aspects are presented, combines a mesoscale approach with a large-eddy simulation (LES) model based on the Compressible Community Mesoscale Model (MC2). It is evaluated relying on a shear-driven ABL case allowing the authors to assess the model behavior at very high resolution as well as more specific numerical aspects such as the vertical discretization and time and space splitting of turbulence-related terms. The proposed LES-capable mesoscale model is shown to perform on par with other similar reference LES models, while being slightly more dissipative. A new vertical discretization of the turbulent processes eliminates a spurious numerical mode in the solution. Finally, the splitting of horizontal and vertical turbulence-related terms is shown to have no impact on the results of the test cases. It is thus demonstrated that the revised MC2 is suitable at both microscales and mesoscales, thus setting a strong foundation for future work.