Articles | Volume 8, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3421-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3421-2015
Methods for assessment of models
 | 
28 Oct 2015
Methods for assessment of models |  | 28 Oct 2015

Towards a new multiscale air quality transport model using the fully unstructured anisotropic adaptive mesh technology of Fluidity (version 4.1.9)

J. Zheng, J. Zhu, Z. Wang, F. Fang, C. C. Pain, and J. Xiang

Abstract. An integrated method of advanced anisotropic hr-adaptive mesh and discretization numerical techniques has been, for first time, applied to modelling of multiscale advection–diffusion problems, which is based on a discontinuous Galerkin/control volume discretization on unstructured meshes. Over existing air quality models typically based on static-structured grids using a locally nesting technique, the advantage of the anisotropic hr-adaptive model has the ability to adapt the mesh according to the evolving pollutant distribution and flow features. That is, the mesh resolution can be adjusted dynamically to simulate the pollutant transport process accurately and effectively. To illustrate the capability of the anisotropic adaptive unstructured mesh model, three benchmark numerical experiments have been set up for two-dimensional (2-D) advection phenomena. Comparisons have been made between the results obtained using uniform resolution meshes and anisotropic adaptive resolution meshes. Performance achieved in 3-D simulation of power plant plumes indicates that this new adaptive multiscale model has the potential to provide accurate air quality modelling solutions effectively.

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Short summary
A new anisotropic hr-adaptive mesh technique has been applied to modelling of multiscale transport phenomena. Over existing air quality models typically based on static-structured grids using a locally nesting technique, the advantage of the anisotropic hr-adaptive model has the ability to adapt the mesh according to the evolving pollutant distribution and flow features. To illustrate its capability, comparisons have been made between the results obtained using adaptive and uniform meshes.