Wind Speed Parameterization and Turbulence Intermittency in the Roughness Sublayers over Urban Areas: a Wind Tunnel Study

The flow in inertial sublayer (ISL) is horizontally homogeneous where the Monin–Obukhov similarity theory (MOST) well describes the flux-gradient relationship.  In contrast, roughness sublayer (RSL) flow is highly inhomogeneous. Its dynamics is influenced by the length scale of individual roughness elements. This study presents an analytical solution to the mean wind profile for both ISL and RSL by adding a new function in the flux-gradient relationship to handle the RSL dynamics. The mean wind speeds measured in the wind tunnel experiments over a range of idealized and real urban geometries are well predicted by the new analytical solution. The root-mean-square errors (RMSE) are reduced over an order of magnitude compared with the conventional logarithmic law of the wall (log-law). Its key parameter, the RSL constant converges asymptotically to μ = 1.7 for urban setting which is different from that (μ = 2.6) for vegetation canopy. The RSL turbulence intermittency is revealed by higher-order moments of velocities, probability density function (PDF), quadrant analysis, and conditional sampling. Ejection Q2 (-u’’, +w”) and sweep Q4 (+u’’, -w”) dominate in both RSL and ISL but with different share. Unlike the ISL, Q2 occurs more frequently (but contributes less to momentum flux) than Q4 in the RSL. It is thus suggested that RSL turbulent transport is driven by occasional, fast motions of accelerating downward flow (Q4) and bulk, slow decelerating upward flow (Q2).