• Atmosphere
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.685-692
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• 2015

In this study, the effects of trees on flow and scalar dispersion in an urban street canyon were investigated using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. For this, we implemented the drag terms of trees to the CFD model, and compared the CFD-simulated results to the wind-tunnel results. For comparison, we considered the same building configuration as the wind-tunnel experiment. The trees were located at the center of street canyon with the aspect ratio (defined as the ratio of the street width to the building height) of 1. First, the flow characteristics were analyzed in the tree-free and high-density tree cases and the results showed that the CFD model reproduced well the flow pattern of the wind-tunnel experiment and reflected the drag effect of trees in the street canyon. Then, the dispersion characteristics of scalar pollutants were investigated for the tree-free, low-density tree and medium-density tree cases. In the tree-free case, the nondimensionalized concentration distribution simulated by the CFD model was quite similar to that in the wind-tunnel experiment in magnitude and pattern. The correlation coefficients between the measured and simulated concentrations are more than 0.9 in all the cases. As the tree density increased, nondimensionalized concentration increased (decreased) near the wall of the upwind (downwind) building, which resulted from the decrease in wind speed case by the drag effect of trees. However, the CFD model underestimated (overestimated) the concentration near the wall of upwind (downwind) building.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.6_1
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• pp.1395-1406
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• 2022

This study investigated the effects of the urban forest and street trees on flow and temperature distribution in the Daegu National Debt Redemption Movement Memorial Park. For this, we implemented tree-drag and tree-cooling parameterization schemes in a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and validated the simulated wind speeds, wind directions, and air temperatures against the measured ones. We used the wind speeds, wind directions, air temperatures predicted by the local data assimilation and prediction system (LDAPS) as the inflow boundary conditions. To investigate the flow and thermal characteristics in the presence of trees in the target area, we conducted numerical experiments in the absence and presence of trees. In the absence of trees, strong winds and monotonous flows were formed inside the park, because there were no obstacles inducing friction. The temperature was inversely proportional to the wind speed. In the presence of trees, the wind speeds(temperatures) were reduced by more than 40 (5)% inside the park with a high planting density due to the tree drag (cooling) effect, and those also affected the wind speeds and temperatures outside the park. Even near the roadside, the wind speeds and temperatures were generally reduced by the trees, but the wind speeds and air temperatures increased partly due to the change in the flow pattern caused by tree drag.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.5_3
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• pp.851-861
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• 2022

In this study, we analyzed the effects of trees planted in urban areas on PM_2.5 reduction using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. For realistic numerical simulations, the meteorological components(e.g., wind velocity components and air temperatures) predicted by the local data assimilation and prediction system (LDAPS), an operational model of the Korea Meteorological Administration, were used as the initial and boundary conditions of the CFD model. The CFD model was validated against, the PM_2.5 concentrations measured by the sensor networks. To investigate the effects of trees on the PM_2.5 reduction, we conducted the numerical simulations for three configurations of the buildings and trees: i) no tree (NT), ii) trees with only drag effect (TD), and iii) trees with the drag and dry-deposition effects (DD). The results showed that the trees in the target area significantly reduced the PM_2.5 concentrations via the dry-deposition process. The PM_2.5 concentration averaged over the domain in DD was reduced by 5.7 ㎍ m^-3 compared to that in TD.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.51-63
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• 2023

Riverine tree management is crucial in realizing a balance between flood control and ecological preservation, which requires an accurate assessment of the impact of trees on river water elevations. In this study, eight different formulas for evaluating vegetation roughness considering the drag force acting on trees, were reviewed, and the characteristics and applicability of these methods were evaluated from a practical engineering perspective. The study compared the characteristics of vegetation roughness measurement methods for calculated roughness coefficients at different water depths and analyzed factors such as effects of tree canopy width, tree density and diameter, and tree stiffness coefficient, and water level estimation results. A comparison of roughness coefficients at the same water depths revealed that the Kouwen and Fathi-Moghadam formulas and the Fischenich formula yield excessive drag coefficients compared to other formulas. Factors such as channel geometry, tree diameter, and tree density showed varying trends depending on the formula but did not exhibit excessive outliers. Formulas considering the tree stiffness coefficient, such as the Freeman et al.'s formula and the Whittaker et al.'s formula, showed significant variations in drag coefficients depending on the stiffness coefficient. When applied to small- and medium-sized virtual rivers in South Korea using the drag coefficient results from the eight formulas, the results indicated a maximum increase in water level of approximately 0.2 to 0.4 meters. Based on this review, it was concluded that the Baptist et al., Huthoff et al., Cheng, Luhar, and Nepf's formulas, which exhibit similar characteristics and low input data uncertainties, are suitable for practical engineering applications.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.5 no.2_3_4
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• pp.291-300
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• 2002

An efficient large eddy simulation algorithm is used to compute surface pressure distributions on an eleven story (target) building on the NIST campus. Local meteorology, neighboring buildings, topography and large vegetation (trees) all play an important part in determining the flows and therefore the pressures experienced by the target. The wind profile imposed at the upstream surface of the computational domain follows a power law with an exponent representing a suburban terrain. This profile accounts for the flow retardation due to friction from the surface of the earth, but does not include fluctuations that would naturally occur in this flow. The effect of neighboring buildings on the time dependent surface pressures experienced by the target is examined. Comparison of the pressure fluctuations on the single target building alone with those on the target building in situ show that, owing to vortices shed by the upstream buildings, fluctuations are larger when such buildings are present. Even when buildings are lateral to or behind the target, the pressure disturbances generate significantly different flows around this building. A simple grid-free mathematical model of a tree is presented in which the trunk and the branches are each represented by a collection of spherical particles strung together like beads on a string. The drag from the tree, determined as the sum of the drags of the component particles, produces an oscillatory, spreading wake of slower fluid, suggesting that the behavior of trees as wind breakers can be modeled usefully.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.2B
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• pp.165-173
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• 2011

In this study, FESWMS FST2DH model was used to analyze the change of flow characteristics after making the riparian forest. The additional flow resistance is calculated based on the drag-force concept acting on each tree and the lateral momentum transfer between planted and non-planted zone could be satisfactorily reproduced by parabolic turbulence model in this depth-averaged 2-D numerical model. For model validation, the simulated velocities were compared with the measured data, showing good agreement in both tree density cases of experiments. The previous method using a proper Manning's n coefficient gives reasonable solutions only to evaluate the conveyance, but the calculated approach velocity at each tree was different from realistic value. The proposed procedure could be widely used to evaluate hydraulic effects of riparian trees in practical engineering.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.165-178
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• 2021

We studied driftwood behaviors including generation and deposition in a tsunami using a numerical simulation. We used an integrated two-dimensional numerical model, which included a driftwood dynamics model. The study area was Sendai, Japan. Observation data collected by Inagaki et al. (2012) were used to verify the simulation results by comparing them with driftwood deposition patterns. A simplified model was developed to consider the threshold of driftwood generation by the drag force of water flows. To consider the volume of driftwood generated, we estimated the total wood number in the study area using Google Earth. Therefore, we simulated more than 13,000 pieces of driftwood that were generated and transported inland from approximately 300,000 trees that were growing in the forest. The final distribution of the driftwood was similar to the observation data. The reproducibility of the generation and deposition patterns of driftwood showed good agreement in terms of longitudinal deposition pattern. In the future, a sensitivity analysis on driftwood parameters, such as the size of the wood, boundary conditions, and grid size, will be implemented to predict the travel patterns of driftwood. Such modeling will be a useful methodology for disaster prediction based on water flow and driftwood.