Livia Souza Freire Grion

FAPESP Week France 2019 | Livia Souza Freire Grion

Published in November 22, 2019 - Agência FAPESP. Technical Session 4: Particles drifting and propelling in turbulent flows. Particle transport in the atmosphere: an unsolved problem. The presence of airborne particles is relevant to a variety of environmental and human activities, including agriculture, meteorology, air quality and health. To predict the behavior of particles, such as their concentration at a given location and time, it is necessary to understand the turbulent flow present in the lowest part of the atmosphere. Due to its complex nature, the study of turbulence has relied on the use of numerical simulations combined with the analysis of experimental data. For the atmospheric flow, the use of a special kind of simulation, known as a Large Eddy Simulation (LES), has provided important insights regarding the unique behavior of turbulence, and significant progress has been made in developing models for the transport of matter and energy in the atmosphere under simplified conditions. For example, the mean concentration of fine particles emitted from a region of flat, bare soil can be represented by a simple flux-profile relationship, a result found through using LES. Advances in computing power capabilities provide an opportunity to investigate more complex problems, such as the transport of particles in the presence of forests and cities; improving LES for this purpose is the subject of ongoing research funded by Fapesp. This advanced numerical tool will be used to develop new models for the transport of particles, which will increase our understanding of and our ability to predict their role in the environment. Read more about FAPESP Week France 2019: https://www.fapesp.br/week2019/france/