Comparison of the LBM snowdrift model output with the observation results

Abstract

Abstract In this work, snowdrift experiments which are equivalent to one drifting snow event are performed by the snowdrift model. The model consisted of the computational fluid dynamics part of the large-eddy simulation with the lattice Boltzmann method and the drifting snow part of the conventional advection algorithm for representative Lagrangian particles. The observed vertical wind profile of a 4 h drifting snow event in Teshikaga Town was used as the inflow boundary conditions in the model to compare the results of the snowdrift estimated by the model and the observed snowdrift distribution. Parallelization enabled us to simulate the snowdrift distribution in a realistic domain and on the time scale of a single drifting snow event. We demonstrated that the upgraded model could quantitatively reproduce the height and position of the observed snowdrift along the center of a three-dimensional fence.

Keywords

• Blowing snow
• Drifting snow
• Lattice Boltzmann method
• Snowdrift
• Snow fence