Nesting turbulence in an offshore convective boundary layer using large-eddy simulations

The focus of this study is on LES of offshore convective boundary layers. Simulations were carried out using two subgrid-scale models (linear and non-linear) with two different closures [diagnostic and prognostic subgrid-scale turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) equations].

We found that the non-linear backscatter and anisotropy model with a prognostic subgrid-scale TKE equation is capable of providing similar results when performing one-way nested LES to a stand-alone domain having the same grid resolution but using periodic lateral boundary conditions. A good agreement is obtained in terms of velocity shear and turbulent fluxes, while velocity variances are overestimated. A streamwise fetch of 14 km is needed following each domain transition in order for the solution to reach quasi-stationary results and for the velocity spectra to generate proper energy content at high wavelengths, however, a pile-up of energy is observed at the low-wavelength portion of the spectrum on the first nested domain.