Implementation of an immersed boundary method in the Meso-NH v5.2 model: applications to an idealized urban environment

Abstract

Abstract. This study describes the numerical implementation, verification and validation of an immersed boundary method (IBM) in the atmospheric solver Meso-NH for applications to urban flow modeling. The IBM represents the fluid–solid interface by means of a level-set function and models the obstacles as part of the resolved scales. The IBM is implemented by means of a three-step procedure: first, an explicit-in-time forcing is developed based on a novel ghost-cell technique that uses multiple image points instead of the classical single mirror point. The second step consists of an implicit step projection whereby the right-hand side of the Poisson equation is modified by means of a cut-cell technique to satisfy the incompressibility constraint. The condition of non-permeability is achieved at the embedded fluid–solid interface by an iterative procedure applied on the modified Poisson equation. In the final step, the turbulent fluxes and the wall model used for large-eddy simulations (LESs) are corrected, and a wall model is proposed to ensure consistency of the subgrid scales with the IBM treatment. In the second of part of the paper, the IBM is verified and validated for several analytical and benchmark test cases of flows around single bluff bodies with an increasing level of complexity. The analysis showed that the Meso-NH model (MNH) with IBM reproduces the expected physical features of the flow, which are also found in the atmosphere at much larger scales. Finally, the IBM is validated in the LES mode against the Mock Urban Setting Test (MUST) field experiment, which is characterized by strong roughness caused by the presence of a set of obstacles placed in the atmospheric boundary layer in nearly neutral stability conditions. The Meso-NH IBM–LES reproduces with reasonable accuracy both the mean flow and turbulent fluctuations observed in this idealized urban environment.