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4.3 Buoyancy-Driven Convection - The Valley Wind

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1. This document discusses the valley wind phenomenon where warm air rises up mountain slopes at night due to solar heating during the day, creating winds that blow up the valley from the low altitude bottom to the high altitude top. 2. The analysis uses equations of fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, and the Boussinesq approximation to derive equations for the velocity and temperature profiles of the valley wind as exponential functions of the vertical coordinate with a boundary layer thickness that increases as the slope angle decreases. 3. It is shown that the maximum wind speed is independent of the slope angle and depends only on properties of the air like thermal diffusivity and the temperature difference between the warm slope and ambient air.

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4.3 Buoyancy-Driven Convection - The Valley Wind

Uploaded by

Ratovoarisoa
14 views4 pages
1. This document discusses the valley wind phenomenon where warm air rises up mountain slopes at night due to solar heating during the day, creating winds that blow up the valley from the low altitude bottom to the high altitude top. 2. The analysis uses equations of fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, and the Boussinesq approximation to derive equations for the velocity and temperature profiles of the valley wind as exponential functions of the vertical coordinate with a boundary layer thickness that increases as the slope angle decreases. 3. It is shown that the maximum wind speed is independent of the slope angle and depends only on properties of the air like thermal diffusivity and the temperature difference between the warm slope and ambient air.

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43MTwind

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1. This document discusses the valley wind phenomenon where warm air rises up mountain slopes at night due to solar heating during the day, creating winds that blow up the valley from the low altitude bottom to the high altitude top. 2. The analysis uses equations of fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, and the Boussinesq approximation to derive equations for the velocity and temperature profiles of the valley wind as exponential functions of the vertical coordinate with a boundary layer thickness that increases as the slope angle decreases. 3. It is shown that the maximum wind speed is independent of the slope angle and depends only on properties of the air like thermal diffusivity and the temperature difference between the warm slope and ambient air.

Copyright:

© All Rights Reserved
Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Download as pdf or txt
14 views4 pages

4.3 Buoyancy-Driven Convection - The Valley Wind

Uploaded by

Ratovoarisoa
1. This document discusses the valley wind phenomenon where warm air rises up mountain slopes at night due to solar heating during the day, creating winds that blow up the valley from the low altitude bottom to the high altitude top. 2. The analysis uses equations of fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, and the Boussinesq approximation to derive equations for the velocity and temperature profiles of the valley wind as exponential functions of the vertical coordinate with a boundary layer thickness that increases as the slope angle decreases. 3. It is shown that the maximum wind speed is independent of the slope angle and depends only on properties of the air like thermal diffusivity and the temperature difference between the warm slope and ambient air.

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© All Rights Reserved
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1

Lecture notes in Fluid Dynamics


(1.63J/2.01J)
by Chiang C. Mei, MIT
4-3MTwind.tex

4.3 Buoyancy-driven convection - The Valley Wind


ref: Prandtl: Fluid Dynamics.

Due to solar heating during the day, a mountain slope may be warmer than the surround-
ing air in a summer night. Let the air near a mountain slope be stably stratified
To = T 0 + N y 0 , (4.3.1)
where T0 = constant, and N > 0. Let the slope temperature be :
Ts = T 1 + N y 0 , (4.3.2)
where T1 > T0 . See the left of Figure 4.3.2. Consider first the static equilibrium:

Figure 4.3.1: Thermal convection along a slope

dpo
0=− − ρo g
dz
hence Z ∞
po = po (∞) + ρo g dz
z
Let A and B be two points with the same elevation but A is on the slope and B is in the
air. Since pA < pB ,
∂po
<0
∂x
2

implying
∂po
<0
∂x0
The pressure gradient must drive an upward flow along the slope.
Let us consider the dynamics. Let

T (x, y) = To + θ(y) (4.3.3)

and
ρ(x, y) = ρo + S(y) = static density + dynamic density (4.3.4)
By the equation of state,

ρ = ρ0 [1 − β (T − T0 )] = ρ0 [1 − β (To − T0 )] − ρ0 βθ.

Therefore
ρo = ρ0 [1 − β (To − T0 )] = ρ0 (1 − βN y 0 ) (4.3.5)
and
S(x, y) = −ρ0 βθ(x, y) (4.3.6)
Note by ratation of coordinates,

To − T0 = N y 0 = N (x sin α + y cos α). (4.3.7)

The flow equations are:


ux + v y = 0 (4.3.8)
ρ (uux + vuy ) = −pdx + µ (uxx + uyy ) − (ρ − ρa ) g sin α (4.3.9)
ρ (uvx + vvu ) = −pdy + µ (vxx + vyy ) − (ρ − ρa ) g cos α (4.3.10)
uTx + vTy = k (Txx + Tyy ) , (4.3.11)
where T is the total temperature and
K
k= .
ρ̄o cp

is the thermal diffusivity. Since ∂/∂x = 0, v = 0 from continuity. From Eqn. (4.3.9)

νuyy + (βg sin α) θ = 0. (4.3.12)

after invoking Boussinesq approximation. In Eqn. (4.3.11),


∂T ∂To
= = N sin α.
∂x ∂x
Therefore,
uN sin α = kθyy . (4.3.13)
3

Combining Eqns. (4.3.12) and (4.3.13), we get

βgN sin2 α
!
d4 u
+ u=0 (4.3.14)
dy 4 νk

and
βgN sin2 α
!
d4 θ
+ θ=0 (4.3.15)
dy 4 νk
Let
4νk
`4 = and y = `η (4.3.16)
βgA sin2 α
then
d4 u d4 θ
+ 4u = 0; and + 4θ = 0 (4.3.17)
dη 4 dη 4
The velocity is
u = U e−η sin η so that u(0) = 0 (4.3.18)
The temperature is
θ = θ0 e−η cos η (4.3.19)
The boundary conditions at η ∼ ∞ are satisfied. In order that θ(0) = T1 − T0 on η = 0 we
choose
θ0 = T 1 − T 0 (4.3.20)
Note that the boundary layer thickness is
!1/4
4νk
δ ∼ O(`) ∼ (4.3.21)
ρgN sin2 α

Thus if α ↓, δ ↑ as 1/ sin2 α.
Using Eqn. (4.3.13), we get
!1/2
−η βgN sin2 α
N sin α U e sin η = k 2θ0 e−η sin η.
4νk

Hence,
!1/2
βgk
U = θ0 (4.3.22)
Nν
Finally
!1/2
βgk
u = (T1 − T0 ) e−η sin η. (4.3.23)
Nν
and
θ = (T1 − T0 )e−η cos η (4.3.24)
4

It is easy to show from (4.3.13) that the total mass flux rate is

∞ dθ
Z
M= ρ u dy = ρ0 β k . (4.3.25)
0 dy 0

Note from (4.3.22) that U is independent of α. If α ↓, the buoyancy force is weaker, but
the shear rate ∂u/∂y is smaller, hence the wall resistance is smaller. U is not reduced!

Figure 4.3.2: Wind along a valley due to feeding from mountains

On a warm slope (due to solar heating during the day) , air rises at night. If there are
two slopes forming a valley, fluid must be supplied from the bottom of the valley; this is the
reason for valley wind blowing from low altitude to high.
On a cold slope (due to radiation loss at night) air sinks at high noon. Valley wind must
flow from high to low.

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