A Novel Integrated Framework to Study Buoyant Turbulent Plumes Released into Atmosphere

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dc.contributor.advisorBhaganagar, Kiran
dc.contributor.authorBhimireddy, Sudheer Reddy
dc.contributor.committeeMemberXie, Hongjie
dc.contributor.committeeMemberFeng, Yusheng
dc.contributor.committeeMemberFeng, Zhi-Gang
dc.creator.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4686-013X
dc.date.accessioned2024-02-09T19:29:43Z
dc.date.available2021-05-27
dc.date.available2024-02-09T19:29:43Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.descriptionThis item is available only to currently enrolled UTSA students, faculty or staff. To download, navigate to Log In in the top right-hand corner of this screen, then select Log in with my UTSA ID.
dc.description.abstractTurbulent Buoyant plumes are common in the environment and can occur by accidental, natural, or man-made releases, for example, wildfire emissions, hot gases from volcanic eruptions, overflows from avalanches, and ocean mixing. These plumes are maintained by pure buoyancy forcing, created by either temperature difference in case of wildfires, or buoyancy difference in case of ocean mixing. This thesis includes understanding the community Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model at different scales to simulate atmospheric conditions, performance assessment of the model at Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) scales by comparing against field data and finally implementing a new buoyant flow transport in the model to release gas mixtures at different densities. A well-resolved LES has been conducted for the first time to simulate realistic geophysical plumes, which include thermal plumes arising due to surface heating and buoyant plumes representing the toxic emissions from large wildfires. For thermal plumes studied, fundamental flow dynamics investigated near to the source revealed characteristic feature of spiraling columnar neck region that feeds into the active and unsteady head region which entrains ambient air through the instabilities occurring at the interface with the ambience. For Ammonia plumes released into unstratified ambience with no winds, unstable temperature boundary layer with no winds, and convective atmospheric boundary layer with different geostrophic and surface heating forcing, the plume rise followed a 3/4 power law with time. Plumes with strong source buoyancy flux penetrated the boundary layer top and the amount of plume penetrated scales with the mean plume rise reached. Buoyant plumes are observed to spread radially after they rise to the boundary layer top. This radial spread distance from source scales linear with time, resembling the propagation of a density current front in the slumping phase. For equal source buoyancy fluxes, an increase in geostrophic forcing resulted in uniform mixing of plume within the boundary layer. Overall mixing of the plume inside boundary layer scales with convective time scale based on the convective velocity and boundary layer depth.
dc.description.departmentMechanical Engineering
dc.format.extent242 pages
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12588/2988
dc.languageen
dc.subjectLarge-Eddy simulation
dc.subjectTransport and Dispersion
dc.subjectTurbulent Buoyant plumes
dc.subjectWeather Research and Forecast model
dc.subject.classificationMechanical engineering
dc.subject.classificationAtmospheric sciences
dc.subject.classificationFluid mechanics
dc.titleA Novel Integrated Framework to Study Buoyant Turbulent Plumes Released into Atmosphere
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.dcmiText
dcterms.accessRightspq_closed
thesis.degree.departmentMechanical Engineering
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Texas at San Antonio
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy

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