Skip to main content
Log in

The Interference of Higher-Order Statistics of the Concentration Field Produced by Two Point Sources According to a Generalized Fluctuating Plume Model

  • Published:
Boundary-Layer Meteorology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The higher-order correlation functions for the concentrationfluctuations arising from a two-point-source configuration have beencalculated analytically within the context of the phenomenology of afluctuating plume model (viz., a meandering plume model that explicitlyincorporates internal fluctuations). Explicit expressions for thesecond-, third-, and fourth-order correlationfunctions between the concentrationfluctuations produced by two point sources are given in terms of the sourceseparation d and the five physically based parameters that define thegeneralized fluctuating plume model: namely, the absolute plume dispersion,σa, which determines the outer plume length scale; the relative plume dispersion, σr, which determines the inner plume length scale; the fluctuation intensity, ir, in relative coordinates, which determines the internal concentration fluctuation level; the correlation coefficient, r,between the positions of the centroids of the two interfering plumes; and,the correlation coefficient, r*, between the concentration fluctuationsof the two plumes in relative coordinates, which determines the degree ofinternal mixing of the two scalars. Furthermore, the form of the totalconcentration probability density function arising from the interferenceproduced by two point sources is presented. Predictions for the second-ordercorrelation function, ρ, and for the total concentration probabilitydensity function have been compared with some new experimental data fora two-point-source configuration in grid turbulence generated in awater-channel simulation. These results are in good agreement with the dataand suggest that the analytical model for the second-order correlationfunction and the total concentration probability density function canreproduce many qualitative trends in the interaction of plumes from twosources.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bara, B. M., Wilson, D. J., and Zelt, B. W.: 1992, ‘Concentration Fluctuation Profiles from a Water Channel Simulation of a Ground-Level Release’ Atmos. Environ. 26A, 1053–1062.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bilger, R. W.: 1993, ‘Conditional Moment Methods for Turbulent Reacting Flows’ Phys. Fluids A 5, 436–444.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, B. M., Jones, C. D., Manning, A. J., and Thomson, D. J.: 2000, ‘Some Field Experiments on the Interaction of Plumes from Two Sources’ Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 126, 1343–1366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deardorff, J. W. and Willis, G. E.: 1984, ‘Ground-Level Concentration Fluctuations from a Buoyant and Non-Buoyant Source within a Laboratory Convective Mixed Layer’ Atmos. Environ. 18, 1297–1309.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dinar, N., Kaplan, H., and Kleiman, M.: 1988, ‘Characterization of Concentration Fluctuations of a Surface Plume in a Neutral Boundary Layer’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 45, 157–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fackrell, J. E. and Robins, A. G.: 1982, ‘Concentration Fluctuations and Fluxes in Plumes from Point Sources in a Turbulent Boundary Layer’ J. Fluid Mech. 117, 1–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gao, F. and O'Brien, E. E.: 1991, ‘Mapping Closure for Multispecies Fickian Diffusion’ Phys. Fluids A 3, 956–959.

    Google Scholar 

  • Genz, A. and Monahan, J.: 1999, ‘A Stochastic Algorithm for High-Dimensional Integrals over Unbounded Regions with Gaussian Weight’ J. Comput. Appl. Math. 112, 71–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gifford, F. A.: 1959, ‘Statistical Properties of a Fluctuating Plume Dispersion Model’ Adv. Geophys. 6, 117–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Girimaji, S. S.: 1993, ‘A Study of Multiscalar Mixing’ Phys. Fluids A 5, 1802–1809.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanna, S. R.: 1984, ‘The Exponential Probability Density Function and Concentration Fluctuations in Smoke Plumes’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 29, 361–375.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschman, I. I. and Widder, D. V.: 1955, The Convolution Transform, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 268 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, H. and Dinar, N.: 1989, ‘The Interference of Two Passive Scalars in a Homogeneous Isotropic Turbulent Field’ J. Fluid Mech. 203, 273–287.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kronenburg, A. and Bilger, R. W.: 1997, ‘Modelling of Differential Diffusion Effects in Nonpremixed Nonreacting Turbulent Flow’ Phys. Fluids 9, 1435–1447.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mylne, K. R.: 1992, ‘Concentration Fluctuation Measurements in a Plume Dispersing in a Stable Surface Layer’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 60, 15–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mylne, K. R. and Mason, P. J.: 1991, ‘Concentration Fluctuation Measurements in a Dispersing Plume at a Range of Up to 1000 m’ Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 117, 177–206.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sawford, B. L., Frost, C. C., and Allan, T. C.: 1985, ‘Atmospheric Boundary-Layer Measurements of Concentration Statistics from Isolated and Multiple Sources’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 31, 249–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spanier, J. and Oldham, K. B.: 1987 An Atlas of Functions, Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, New York, NY, 700 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stapountzis, H., Sawford, B. L., Hunt, J. C. R., and Britter, R. E.: 1986, ‘Structure of the Temperature Field Downwind of a Line Source in Grid Turbulence’ J. Fluid Mech. 165, 401–424.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sykes, R. I., Lewellen, W. S., and Parker, S. F.: 1984, ‘A Turbulent-Transport Model for Concentration Fluctuations and Fluxes’ J. Fluid Mech. 139, 193–218.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomson, D. J.: 1990, ‘A Stochastic Model for the Motion of Particle Pairs in Isotropic High-Reynolds-Number Turbulence, and its Application to the Problems of Concentration Variance’ J. Fluid Mech. 210, 113–153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warhaft, Z.: 1983, ‘The Interference of Thermal Fields from Line Sources in Grid Turbulence’ J. Fluid Mech. 144, 363–387.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, D. J., Zelt, B. W., and Pittman, W. E.: 1991, Statistics of Turbulent Fluctuation of Scalars in a Water Channel, Technical Report for Defence Research Establishment Suffield (DRES-CR–31-91), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 60 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yee, E. and Wilson, D. J.: 2000, ‘A Comparison of the Detailed Structure in Dispersing Tracer Plumes Measured in Grid-Generated Turbulence with aMeandering PlumeModel Incorporating Internal Fluctuations’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 94, 253–296.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yee, E., Chan, R., Kosteniuk, P. R., Chandler, G. M., Biltoft, C. A., and Bowers, J. F.: 1994a, ‘Experimental Measurements of Concentration Fluctuations and Scales in a Dispersing Plume in the Atmospheric Surface Layer Obtained Using a Very Fast Response Concentration Detector’ J. Appl. Meteorol. 33, 996–1016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yee, E., Chan, R., Kosteniuk, P. R., Chandler, G. M., Biltoft, C. A., and Bowers, J. F.: 1994b, ‘Incorporation of Internal Fluctuations in a Meandering Plume Model of Concentration Fluctuations’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 67, 11–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yee, E., Chan, R., Kosteniuk, P. R., Chandler, G.M., Biltoft, C. A., and Bowers, J. F.: 1995, ‘The Vertical Structure of Concentration Fluctuation Statistics in Plumes Dispersing in the Atmospheric Surface Layer’ Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 76, 41–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yeung, P. K. and Pope, S. B.: 1993, ‘Differential Diffusion of Passive Scalars in Isotropic Turbulence’ Phys. Fluids A, 5, 2467–2478.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Yee, E., Gailis, R.M. & Wilson, D.J. The Interference of Higher-Order Statistics of the Concentration Field Produced by Two Point Sources According to a Generalized Fluctuating Plume Model. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 106, 297–348 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021120205399

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021120205399

Navigation