Eulerian and Lagrangian approaches to multidimensional condensation and collection

• Turbulence is argued to play a crucial role in cloud droplet growth. The combined problem of turbulence and cloud droplet growth is numerically challenging. Here an Eulerian scheme based on the Smoluchowski equation is compared with two Lagrangian superparticle (or superdroplet) schemes in the presence of condensation and collection. The growth processes are studied either separately or in combination using either two-dimensional turbulence, a steady flow or just gravitational acceleration without gas flow. Good agreement between the different schemes for the time evolution of the size spectra is observed in the presence of gravity or turbulence. The Lagrangian superparticle schemes are found to be superior over the Eulerian one in terms of computational performance. However, it is shown that the use of interpolation schemes such as the cloud-in-cell algorithm is detrimental in connection with superparticle or superdroplet approaches. Furthermore, the use of symmetric over asymmetric collection schemes is shown to reduce the amount of scatter in the results. For the Eulerian scheme, gravitational collection is rather sensitive to the mass bin resolution, but not so in the case with turbulence. Plain Language Summary The bottleneck problem of cloud droplet growth is one of the most challenging problems in cloud physics. Cloud droplet growth is neither dominated by condensation nor gravitational collision in the size range of 15 mu m similar to 40 mu m [1]. Turbulence-generated collection has been thought to be the mechanism to bridge the size gap, i.e., the bottleneck problem. This study compares the Lagrangian and Eulerian schemes in detail to tackle with the turbulence-generated collection.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Eulerian Smoluchowski and Lagrangian superdroplet

collection

cloud droplets

turbulence

size spectra

atmosfärvetenskap och oceanografi

Atmospheric Sciences and Oceanography

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